Biomaterial Database

The ethics of farming-out: ideology, the state, and the asylum in nineteenth-century Quebec. 1998

J E Moran

Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania.

This article traces the development of the farming-out system of asylum provision which emerged in Quebec for the treatment and care of those who were considered to be insane. The kind of asylum provision that developed in Quebec was met with strong criticism by alienists elsewhere in Ontario, Britain and the United States who considered farming-out to be highly unethical. These criticisms were not lost on the state which tried to exercise increased control over the daily affairs of the asylum. But for much of the nineteenth century the state largely failed in these efforts. The community response to the rise of the farming-out system further complicated the role of the state in the management and control of insanity. I argue that the farming-out system is best considered as the product of complex relations between the state officials, alienists, and community members. This understanding of asylum development in Quebec has important implications for the study of the nineteenth-century state formation.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002170	Canada	The largest country in North America, comprising 10 provinces and three territories. Its capital is Ottawa.
D004991	Ethics, Institutional	The moral and ethical obligations or responsibilities of institutions.	Ethics, Health Facility,Ethics, Hospital,Ethics, Organizational,Organizational Ethics,Health Facility Ethics,Hospital Ethics,Institutional Ethics,Institutional Obligations,Ethic, Health Facility,Ethic, Hospital,Ethic, Institutional,Ethic, Organizational,Facility Ethic, Health,Facility Ethics, Health,Health Facility Ethic,Hospital Ethic,Institutional Ethic,Institutional Obligation,Obligation, Institutional,Obligations, Institutional,Organizational Ethic
D006778	Hospitals, Psychiatric	Special hospitals which provide care to the mentally ill patient.	Mental Hospitals,Hospitals, Mental,Mental Institutions,Psychiatric Hospitals,Hospital, Mental,Hospital, Psychiatric,Institution, Mental,Institutions, Mental,Mental Hospital,Mental Institution,Psychiatric Hospital
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001523	Mental Disorders	Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.	Mental Illness,Psychiatric Diseases,Psychiatric Disorders,Psychiatric Illness,Behavior Disorders,Diagnosis, Psychiatric,Mental Disorders, Severe,Psychiatric Diagnosis,Illness, Mental,Mental Disorder,Mental Disorder, Severe,Mental Illnesses,Psychiatric Disease,Psychiatric Disorder,Psychiatric Illnesses,Severe Mental Disorder,Severe Mental Disorders
D013219	State Government	The level of governmental organization and function below that of the national or country-wide government.	Government, State,Provincial Government,Government, Provincial,Governments, State,State Governments
D049672	History, 19th Century	Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era.	19th Century History,19th Cent. History (Medicine),19th Cent. History of Medicine,19th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 19th Century,History of Medicine, 19th Cent.,History, Nineteenth Century,Medical History, 19th Cent.,Medicine, 19th Cent.,19th Cent. Histories (Medicine),19th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 19th (Medicine),Cent. History, 19th (Medicine),Century Histories, 19th,Century Histories, Nineteenth,Century History, 19th,Century History, Nineteenth,Histories, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 19th Century,Histories, Nineteenth Century,History, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Nineteenth Century Histories,Nineteenth Century History