The Regulation of Madness

Robert Castel's work constitutes an important recent body of critical scholarship on psychiatry and its history. Available for the first time in English, this book examines the rise of French psychiatry in the nineteenth century. It argues that this development must be situated in the specific context of the foundation of a new social order after the French Revolution. The author examines the disputed borderlines between the judiciary and psychiatry, emphasizing that the role of the medical profession is to create rather than capture new territory. In this vein, he shares key concepts with Michel Foucault, with whom he was associated early in his career.