ENGLISH

Labeling People: French Scholars on Society, Race, and Empire, 1815–1848

By Martin S. Staum

Book information

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Year
2003
ISBN
9780773571242
DOI
10.1515/9780773571242
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
11 MB (11396905 bytes)
Series
McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Ideas; 37
Pages
264\262
Library
degruyter.com
Time added
2023-09-26 20:20:51

Description

Nineteenth-century French scholars, during a turbulent era of revolution and industrialization, ranked intelligence and character according to facial profile, skin colour, and head shape. They believed that such indicators could determine whether individuals were educable and peoples perfectible. In Labeling People Martin Staum examines the Paris societies of phrenology (reading intelligence and character by head shapes), geography, and ethnology and their techniques for classifying people. He shows how the work of these social scientists gave credence to the arrangement of "races" in a hierarchy, the domination of non-European peoples, and the limitation of opportunities for ill-favored individuals within France.

Similar books