Feeble-minded: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Term once used in psychiatry to describe people with intellectual disabilities}} |
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{{Eugenics in America|theories}} |
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The term '''feeble-minded''' was used from the late |
The term '''feeble-minded''' was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or [[Mental deficiency|deficiencies of the mind]]. |
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At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed all degrees of educational and social deficiency. Within the concept of mental deficiency, researchers established a hierarchy, ranging from [[idiot|idiocy]], at the most severe end of the scale; to [[imbecile|imbecility]], at the median point; and to feeble-mindedness at the highest end of functioning. The |
At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed all degrees of educational and social deficiency. Within the concept of mental deficiency, researchers established a hierarchy, ranging from [[idiot|idiocy]], at the most severe end of the scale; to [[imbecile|imbecility]], at the median point; and to feeble-mindedness at the highest end of functioning. The last was conceived of as a form of high-grade mental deficiency.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Mark|title='It begins with the goos and ends with the goose': medical, legal, and lay understandings of imbecility in ''Ingram v Wyatt,'' 1824–1832|journal=Social History of Medicine|date=1 December 1998|volume=11|issue=3|doi=10.1093/shm/11.3.361|page=364|pmid=11623581}}</ref> |
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The development of the ranking system of mental deficiency has been attributed to [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Sir Charles Trevelyan]] in 1876, and was associated with the rise of [[eugenics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Mathew|title=The Problem of Mental Deficiency : Eugenics, Democracy and Social Policy in Britain, c. 1870–1959|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon|location=Oxford|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rIsDsV_WPkC&pg=PA14|isbn=0-19-820692-5|edition=Repr.|page=14}}</ref> The term and hierarchy had been used in that sense at least |
The development of the ranking system of mental deficiency has been attributed to [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet|Sir Charles Trevelyan]] in 1876, and was associated with the rise of [[eugenics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Mathew|title=The Problem of Mental Deficiency : Eugenics, Democracy and Social Policy in Britain, c. 1870–1959|year=1998|publisher=Clarendon|location=Oxford|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rIsDsV_WPkC&pg=PA14|isbn=0-19-820692-5|edition=Repr.|page=14}}</ref> The term and hierarchy had been used in that sense at least 10 years previously.<ref name=PBartley121>{{cite book|last=Bartley|first=Paula|title=Prostitution prevention and reform in England, 1860–1914|year=2000|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-203-45303-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2rdtBjWjxREC&pg=PA121|page=121}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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The earliest recorded use of the term in the English language dates from 1534, when it appears in one of the first English translations of the [[New Testament]]. A biblical |
The earliest recorded use of the term in the English language dates from 1534, when it appears in one of the first English translations of the [[New Testament]], the [[Tyndale Bible]]. A biblical commandment to "Comforte the feble mynded" is included in 1 Thessalonians.<ref>''Bible'' (1534). William Tyndale (trans.); George Joye (revised). Thessalonians. Quoted in: "feeble, adj. and n.". OED Online. November 2010. Oxford University Press. 16 March 2011 <http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/68950>.</ref> |
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A London ''[[The Times|Times]]'' [[editorial]] of November 1834 describes the long-serving former [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Lord Liverpool]] as a "feeble-minded pedant of office".<ref> |
A London ''[[The Times|Times]]'' [[editorial]] of November 1834 describes the long-serving former [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Lord Liverpool]] as a "feeble-minded pedant of office".<ref>''The Times'', 8 November 1834; "A precious exposure of the dignity and integrity of Statesmen is about to be made this day by Mr. EVANS"</ref> |
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==Definition== |
==Definition== |
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{{quote|[P]ersons who may be capable of earning a living under favourable circumstances, but are incapable from mental defect, existing from birth or from an early age: (1) of competing on equal terms with their normal fellows, or (2) of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence.<ref name=PBartley121/>}} |
{{quote|[P]ersons who may be capable of earning a living under favourable circumstances, but are incapable from mental defect, existing from birth or from an early age: (1) of competing on equal terms with their normal fellows, or (2) of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence.<ref name=PBartley121/>}} |
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Despite being [[pejorative]], in its day the term was considered, along with ''[[Idiot (usage)|idiot]]'', ''[[imbecile]]'', and ''[[Moron (psychology)|moron]]'', to be a relatively precise psychiatric classification. |
Despite being [[pejorative]], in its day the term was considered, along with ''[[Idiot (usage)|idiot]]'', ''[[imbecile]]'', and ''[[Moron (psychology)|moron]]'', to be a relatively precise psychiatric classification. |
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The [[United States of America|American]] psychologist [[Henry H. Goddard]], who coined the term ''[[Moron (psychology)|moron]]'', was the director of the [[Vineland Training School]] (originally the Vineland Training School for Backward and Feeble-minded Children) at [[Vineland, New Jersey]]. Goddard was known for strongly postulating that "feeble-mindedness" was a hereditary trait, most likely caused by a single recessive gene. Goddard rang the [[eugenics|eugenic]] "alarm bells" in his 1912 work, ''[[The Kallikak Family|The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness]]'', about those in the population who carried the recessive trait despite outward appearances of normality. |
The [[United States of America|American]] psychologist [[Henry H. Goddard]], who coined the term ''[[Moron (psychology)|moron]]'', was the director of the [[Vineland Training School]] (originally the Vineland Training School for Backward and Feeble-minded Children) at [[Vineland, New Jersey]]. Goddard was known for strongly postulating that "feeble-mindedness" was a hereditary trait, most likely caused by a single recessive gene. Goddard rang the [[eugenics|eugenic]] "alarm bells" in his 1912 work, ''[[The Kallikak Family|The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness]]'', about those in the population who carried the recessive trait despite outward appearances of normality.{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}} |
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In the first half of the 20th century, a diagnosis of "feeble-mindedness, in any of its grades" was a common criterion for many states in the United States, which embraced eugenics as a progressive measure, to mandate the [[compulsory sterilization]] of such patients. In the 1927 US Supreme Court case ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'', Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes |
In the first half of the 20th century, a diagnosis of "feeble-mindedness, in any of its grades" was a common criterion for many states in the United States, which embraced eugenics as a progressive measure, to mandate the [[compulsory sterilization]] of such patients. In the 1927 US Supreme Court case ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'', Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]] closed the 8–1 majority opinion upholding the sterilization of [[Carrie Buck]], with the phrase, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/200/case.html|title=Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200 (1927)|work=Justia Law|access-date=2017-04-04|language=en}}</ref> Buck, her mother and daughter were all classified as feeble-minded. |
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==Representation in other media== |
==Representation in other media== |
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[[Jack London]] published a short story, "[[Told in the Drooling Ward]]" (1914), which describes inmates at a California institution for the "feeble-minded |
[[Jack London]] published a short story, "[[Told in the Drooling Ward]]" (1914), which describes inmates at a California institution for the "feeble-minded". He narrates the story from the point of view of a self-styled "high-grade feeb". The California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble-minded Children, later the [[Sonoma Developmental Center]], was located near the Jack London Ranch in [[Glen Ellen, California]]. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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* [[Eugenics in the United States]] |
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* [[Insanity]] |
* [[Insanity]] |
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* [[Developmental disorder]] |
* [[Developmental disorder]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{wiktionary|feeble-minded}} |
{{wiktionary|feeble-minded}} |
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* {{Gutenberg book|no=16257|name=The Turtles of Tasman|author=[[Jack London]]}}, contains the story "Told in the Drooling Ward". |
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* [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/TurtlesTasman/ward.html Jack London, "Told in the Drooling Ward"], online text, University of California at Berkeley |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeble-Minded}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeble-Minded}} |
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[[Category:16th-century neologisms]] |
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[[Category:Historical and obsolete mental and behavioural disorders]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:Obsolete terms for mental disorders]] |
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[[Category:Intellectual disability]] |
[[Category:Intellectual disability]] |
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[[Category:Slurs related to low intelligence]] |
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[[Category:Pejorative terms for people with disabilities]] |
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[[Category:Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool]] |
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Latest revision as of 19:11, 7 November 2024
| Part of a series on |
| Eugenics in the United States |
|---|
The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind.
At the time, mental deficiency encompassed all degrees of educational and social deficiency. Within the concept of mental deficiency, researchers established a hierarchy, ranging from idiocy, at the most severe end of the scale; to imbecility, at the median point; and to feeble-mindedness at the highest end of functioning. The last was conceived of as a form of high-grade mental deficiency.[1]
The development of the ranking system of mental deficiency has been attributed to Sir Charles Trevelyan in 1876, and was associated with the rise of eugenics.[2] The term and hierarchy had been used in that sense at least 10 years previously.[3]
History
[edit]The earliest recorded use of the term in the English language dates from 1534, when it appears in one of the first English translations of the New Testament, the Tyndale Bible. A biblical commandment to "Comforte the feble mynded" is included in 1 Thessalonians.[4]
A London Times editorial of November 1834 describes the long-serving former Prime Minister Lord Liverpool as a "feeble-minded pedant of office".[5]
Definition
[edit]The British government's Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded (1904–1908), in its Report in 1908 defined the feeble-minded as:
[P]ersons who may be capable of earning a living under favourable circumstances, but are incapable from mental defect, existing from birth or from an early age: (1) of competing on equal terms with their normal fellows, or (2) of managing themselves and their affairs with ordinary prudence.[3]
Despite being pejorative, in its day the term was considered, along with idiot, imbecile, and moron, to be a relatively precise psychiatric classification.
The American psychologist Henry H. Goddard, who coined the term moron, was the director of the Vineland Training School (originally the Vineland Training School for Backward and Feeble-minded Children) at Vineland, New Jersey. Goddard was known for strongly postulating that "feeble-mindedness" was a hereditary trait, most likely caused by a single recessive gene. Goddard rang the eugenic "alarm bells" in his 1912 work, The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness, about those in the population who carried the recessive trait despite outward appearances of normality.[citation needed]
In the first half of the 20th century, a diagnosis of "feeble-mindedness, in any of its grades" was a common criterion for many states in the United States, which embraced eugenics as a progressive measure, to mandate the compulsory sterilization of such patients. In the 1927 US Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes closed the 8–1 majority opinion upholding the sterilization of Carrie Buck, with the phrase, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."[6] Buck, her mother and daughter were all classified as feeble-minded.
Representation in other media
[edit]Jack London published a short story, "Told in the Drooling Ward" (1914), which describes inmates at a California institution for the "feeble-minded". He narrates the story from the point of view of a self-styled "high-grade feeb". The California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble-minded Children, later the Sonoma Developmental Center, was located near the Jack London Ranch in Glen Ellen, California.
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Jackson, Mark (1 December 1998). "'It begins with the goos and ends with the goose': medical, legal, and lay understandings of imbecility in Ingram v Wyatt, 1824–1832". Social History of Medicine. 11 (3): 364. doi:10.1093/shm/11.3.361. PMID 11623581.
- ^ Thomson, Mathew (1998). The Problem of Mental Deficiency : Eugenics, Democracy and Social Policy in Britain, c. 1870–1959 (Repr. ed.). Oxford: Clarendon. p. 14. ISBN 0-19-820692-5.
- ^ a b Bartley, Paula (2000). Prostitution prevention and reform in England, 1860–1914. London: Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 0-203-45303-4.
- ^ Bible (1534). William Tyndale (trans.); George Joye (revised). Thessalonians. Quoted in: "feeble, adj. and n.". OED Online. November 2010. Oxford University Press. 16 March 2011 <http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/68950>.
- ^ The Times, 8 November 1834; "A precious exposure of the dignity and integrity of Statesmen is about to be made this day by Mr. EVANS"
- ^ "Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200 (1927)". Justia Law. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
External links
[edit]
- Jack London. The Turtles of Tasman at Project Gutenberg, contains the story "Told in the Drooling Ward".