Governing Systems: Modernity and the Making of Public Health in England, 1830–1910 (Berkeley Series in British Studies Book 11)

When and how did public health become modern? In __Governing Systems__, Tom Crook offers a fresh answer to this question through an examination of Victorian and Edwardian England, long considered one of the critical birthplaces of modern public health. This birth, Crook argues, should be located not in the rise of professional expertise or a centralized bureacratic state, but in the contested formation and functioning of multiple systems, both human and material, administrative and technological. Theoretically ambitious but empirically grounded, __Governing Systems__ will be of interest to historians of modern public health and modern Britain, as well as to anyone interested in the complex gestation of the governmental dimensions of modernity. "When and how did public health become modern? In Governing Systems, Tom Crook re-examines this key question in the context of Victorian and Edwardian England, long regarded as one of the 'homes' of modern public health. The modernity of modern public health, Crook argues, should be located not in the rise of a centralized, bureaucratic and disciplinary State, but in the contested formation and intricate functioning of systems of governing, from the administrative to the technological. Equally, we need to embrace a dialectical understanding of modern governance, one that is rooted in the interaction of multiple levels, agents and times. Theoretically ambitious, but empirically grounded, Governing Systems will be of interest to historians of modern public health and modern Britain, as well as anyone interested in the complex gestation of the governmental dimensions of modernity"--Provided by publisher "When and how did public health become modern? In Governing Systems, Tom Crook re-examines this key question in the context of Victorian and Edwardian England, long regarded as one of the 'homes' of modern public health. The modernity of modern public health, Crook argues, should be located not in the rise of a centralized, bureaucratic and disciplinary State, but in the contested formation and intricate functioning of systems of governing, from the administrative to the technological. Equally, we need to embrace a dialectical understanding of modern governance, one that is rooted in the interaction of multiple levels, agents and times. Theoretically ambitious, but empirically grounded, Governing Systems will be of interest to historians of modern public health and modern Britain, as well as anyone interested in the complex gestation of the governmental dimensions of modernity"-- Résumé de l'éditeur When and how did public health become modern? In Governing Systems, Tom Crook offers a fresh answer to this question through an examination of Victorian and Edwardian England, long considered one of the critical birthplaces of modern public health. This birth, Crook argues, should be located not in the rise of professional expertise or a centralized bureacratic state, but in the contested formation and functioning of multiple systems, both human and material, administrative and technological. Theoretically ambitious but empirically grounded, Governing Systems will be of interest to historians of modern public health and modern Britain, as well as to anyone interested in the complex gestation of the governmental dimensions of modernity. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. In Search of Hygeia: Systems, Modernity, and Public Health 2. A Perfect Chaos: Centralization and the Struggle for National System 3. Numbers, Norms, and Opinions: Death and the Measurement of Progress 4. Officialism: The Art and Practice of Sanitary Inspection 5. Matter in Its Right Place: Technology and the Building of Waste Disposal Systems 6. Stamping Out: Logistics, Risk, and Infectious Diseases 7. Personal Hygiene: Cleanliness, Class, and the Habitual Self 8. Conclusion: Systems, Variations, Politics Notes Selected Bibliography Index