Morality and Biology in the Spanish Civil War

Psychiatrists, Revolution and Women Prisoners in Málaga

Bibliographic Data

ID12269201
AuthorsMichael Richards (0000-0001-5274-8887, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume10
Issue3
Pages395-421
Publication date2001-10-26
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary European History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0960-7773 • E-ISSN: 1469-2171
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0960777301003046
PMID19170277
OpenAlexW2080638685
LanguageEN
Citations received9

The psychiatric study of women prisoners in the city of Málaga during the Spanish Civil War provides a starting point for a two-part analysis of the gendered tension between biology and morality. First, the relationship of organic psychiatry and bio-typologies to, in turn, liberalism and neo-Thomist Catholicism is discussed. The supposedly ‘biological’ roots of conditions such as hysteria and their link to women's revolutionary behaviour are examined. Second, prison records are used to examine the material conditions of women in the city and the gendered construction of their moral culpability during the revolution. Both medical science and Catholic doctrine could be exploited in declaring the indissolubility of gendered morality

Criminology · Culpability · Doctrine · Liberalism · Morality · Political science · Prison · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Gender Studies · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · History of Medicine Studies · Law · Medical History and Research

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