Labeling People : French Scholars on Society, Race, and Empire, 1815-1848
ISBN: 9780773571242
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / McGill-Queen''s University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: Social Science;

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.

Staum Martin S. :

Martin S. Staum is professor emeritus of history, University of Calgary, and author of Labeling People: French Scholars on Society, Race and Empire, 1815-1848 and Minerva's Message: Stabilizing the French Revolution.


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