Buildings on the Fringes of Society – 19th Century Protestant Asylums for ‘Idiots’ as Places of Hyper-Inclusion
This article analyses one Christian welfare institution and discusses the effects of its spatial location on the social position of its clients. By examining the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, it focuses on the early history of the Asylum of Alsterdorf for imbecile and feeble-minded children...
| Published in: | Journal of religion in Europe |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
Journal of religion in Europe
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf
/ Protestantism
/ Mentally handicapped person
/ Inclusion (Sociology)
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CH Christianity and Society KBB German language area KDD Protestant Church |
| Further subjects: | B
Christian welfare
institution
disability
segregation
exclusion
inclusion
systems theory
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article analyses one Christian welfare institution and discusses the effects of its spatial location on the social position of its clients. By examining the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, it focuses on the early history of the Asylum of Alsterdorf for imbecile and feeble-minded children (Asyl für schwach- und blödsinnige Kinder zu Alsterdorf) in nineteenth-century Hamburg. The analytical perspective follows the concept of inclusion–exclusion as presented in Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. It is argued here that a religious welfare institution may enclose its clients in a hyper-inclusive system for theological reasons and that, consequently, institutions of this kind contribute to the social exclusion of their clients. |
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| ISSN: | 1874-8929 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of religion in Europe
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18748929-00904003 |