Degeneracy Crisis and Victorian Youth

Thomas E. Jordan is Curators' Professor of Child Development at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of Victorian Childhood: Themes and Variations also published by SUNY Press.

• List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface Acknowlegments 1. The Degeneracy Question Circumstances of LifeThe Degeneracy ProblemDegeneracy as TheoryFiction and FactThe Problem 2. Towns, Housing, and Work Health in TownsTownsMetropolitan Model HousingRural HousingScotland and IrelandEcology and HousingUrbanization of LeedsWork 3. Circumstances of Life Genetics and EvolutionNutritionDiseaseMortalityTeethPovertyClimatePopulation GrowthPopulation, Climate, Mortality, and HeightVictorian Index of Children and Youth 4. Height and Body Mass of Children ConceptsHeights 1805-1914Appraising Social LevelDataSelected StudiesHeights of VictoriansHeights and the Degeneracy QuestionEstimating Rate of ChangeEstimating Quetelet's Body Mass IndexDiscussion 5. Mars and Hygeia The Army as a Social SystemProblems of DataRecruitsRejection RatesThe Boer WarCommentary 6. Social-Economic Circumstances and Height The Industrial RevolutionSocial IndicatorsNutritionEconomic Variables and HeightA Destructive Consideration of HeightsA Multivariate Analysis 7. Public Policy and Reform IdeologyShapers of Public PolicyDocuments and InquiriesResistancePrivate PhilanthropyGovernment in ActionEras of Progressivism 8. Discussion Data and IdeologyThe Degeneracy QuestionStress Appendices Bibliography Indexes

"Jordan reminds us that history, policy, and economics are great shaping forces in terms of setting ceilings on what children can be. There is much here that is important to scholars in child growth and development. But most important is that we are reminded of the plight of poor children today as well as yesterday." — Margaret Yonemura, State University of New York, Binghamton