Childhood, Pain and Emotion

Situated at the intersection of the history of pain, childhood, and emotions, this innovative study examines how children’s pain was culturally understood and medically interpreted in Britain from the 1870s to the end of the Second World War. Through a close analysis of British medical discourse, the book explores how children’s pain was experienced, expressed, observed, and interpreted within institutional and social settings such as hospitals, war nurseries, and asylums. By revealing how ideas about childhood pain evolved across disciplines, the work provides crucial historical insight into contemporary beliefs and practices surrounding children’s pain and the broader ways children contribute to the construction of adult social and medical worlds.

Key Features:

• Explores the cultural and medical history of children’s pain from the late 19th century to WWII
• Focuses on British medical and social discourse
• Examines pain as something felt, observed, interpreted, and performed
• Analyzes key institutional contexts including hospitals, war nurseries, and asylums
• Uses a comparative, interdisciplinary approach
• Integrates perspectives from physiology, paediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis
• Traces changing perceptions of the child in pain across time and disciplines
• Highlights the relationship between social attitudes and medical knowledge
• Provides historical context for current practices and beliefs about childhood pain
• Illuminates the role of children in shaping adult medical, emotional, and social frameworks