The Undesirables - The Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 and Its Assault on Liberty (Hardcover)

By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed ‘defective’ by the government and detained for life under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their ‘crimes’ were various: women with children born outside of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with learning disorders, speech impediments and chronic illnesses who had struggled in school; and, of course, those who were simply ‘different’. Forcibly removed from their families and confined to a shadow world of specialist facilities in the countryside, they were hidden away and forgotten about – out of sight, out of mind.  Through painstaking archival research, Sarah Wise pieces together the lives irrevocably changed by this devastating legislation and provides a compelling study of how early 20th-century attitudes to class, gender and disability have continued to shape social policy.

General

Imprint:	Oneworld Publications
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	March 2024
Authors:	Sarah Wise
Dimensions:	234 x 153mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	352
ISBN-13:	978-0-86154-455-4
Categories:	Books
LSN:	0-86154-455-2
Barcode:	9780861544554

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!