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BestsellerE-book
Author Linstrum, Erik, 1983- author.

Title Ruling minds : psychology in the British empire / Erik Linstrum.

Publication Info. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016.
©2016

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (309 pages) : illustrations
text file PDF
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents The laboratory in the field : inventing imperial psychology -- A dream dictionary for the world : the globalization of the unconscious -- Meritocracy or master race? The origins of mental testing in the British Empire -- Square pegs and round holes : aptitude testing in the barracks and beyond -- The truth about hearts and minds : development and counterinsurgency in the postwar empire -- Psychology beyond empire : global expertise and the postcolonial mind.
Summary At its zenith in the early twentieth century, the British Empire ruled nearly one-quarter of the world's inhabitants. As they worked to exercise power in diverse and distant cultures, British authorities relied to a surprising degree on the science of mind. Ruling Minds explores how psychology opened up new possibilities for governing the empire. From the mental testing of workers and soldiers to the use of psychoanalysis in development plans and counterinsurgency strategy, psychology provided tools for measuring and managing the minds of imperial subjects. But it also led to unintended consequences. Following researchers, missionaries, and officials to the far corners of the globe, Erik Linstrum examines how they used intelligence tests, laboratory studies, and even dream analysis to chart abilities and emotions. Psychology seemed to offer portable and standardized forms of knowledge that could be applied to people everywhere. Yet it also unsettled basic assumptions of imperial rule. Some experiments undercut the racial hierarchies that propped up British dominance. Others failed to realized the orderly transformation of colonized societies that experts promised and officials hoped for. Challenging our assumptions about scientific knowledge and empire, Linstrum shows that psychology did more to expose the limits of imperial authority than to strengthen it. -- from dust jacket.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Psychology -- Great Britain -- History.
Psychology.
Great Britain.
History.
British -- Psychological testing.
British -- Psychological testing.
British.
British -- Psychology.
British -- Psychology.
Great Britain -- Colonies -- Administration -- History.
Colonies.
Administration.
United Kingdom.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Other Form: Print version: Linstrum, Erik, 1983- Ruling minds. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016 9780674088665 0674088662 (DLC) 2015015035 (OCoLC)906121604
ISBN 9780674089150 (electronic book)
0674089154 (electronic book)
9780674088665 (cloth)
0674088662 (cloth)
Standard No. 40025541462
10.4159/9780674089150
40025600343