Dysfunctional Domesticity
Female Insanity and Family Relationships among the West Riding Poor in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6079024 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marjorie Levine‐clark (0000-0002-6679-4371, University of Colorado Denver, corresponding author), Marjorie Levine-Clark |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 341-361 |
| Publication date | 2000-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Family History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0363-1990 • E-ISSN: 1552-5473 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/036319900002500305 |
| PMID | 14674435 |
| OpenAlex | W2039622461 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Dysfunctional Domesticity” contributes to the growing reevaluation of the importance of the history of the family to understanding the history of insanity. Using patient case histories from the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, this article examines representations of family life among the poor in England in the 1830s and 1840s. Among the so-called moral causes of insanity, family relationships held a prominent place. Female patients more than male patients had their mental illnesses attributed to their domestic circumstances: the poverty of their home lives, grief over the death of friends and family, love and marital relationships gone wrong, and violence in their homes. The case histories reveal that poor women experienced many pressures in the domestic sphere, and insanity may have been one way to escape dysfunctional domesticity
Criminology · Dysfunctional family · Grief · Insanity · Lunatic · Patriarchy · Political science · Poverty · Psychiatry · Seclusion · Sociology · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Highly cited | No |