Overview

Despite the immense literature on the social history of industrialization and workers’ political movements, there had been virtually no published work on the social history of health hazards and of work-related diseases. First published in 1985, The Social History of Occupational Health is the first to explore this neglected area from the perspective of social history. The chapters focus on several issues, placing health at work in a socio-political context. The issues include questions of industrial compensation and the enforcement of safety standards in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as related to controversies of the time on standards of living during industrialization. A number of chapters present international comparisons, particularly regarding working conditions and social policy in Britain and Germany, for example concerning legislation, labour relations, and health and safety standards. Other chapters consider safety at work councils in Italy under fascism and working conditions of women in the 1914–18 war. This book will be a beneficial read for social historians and medical sociologists.

Full Product Details

Author:   Paul Weindling
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.700kg
ISBN:  

9781041271536

ISBN 10:   1041271530
Pages:   294
Publication Date:   31 March 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Preface Foreword Michael Meacehr MP. Chief Opposition Spokesman on Health and Social Security Part One: Introductory 1. Linking Self Help and Medical Science: The Social History of Occupational Health 2. The Social History of Occupational Medicine and Factory Health Services in the Federal Republic of Germany Part Two: Social Conditions and Risk Factors 3. From Workmen’s Diseases to Occupational Diseases: the Impact of Experts’ Concepts on Workers’ Attitudes 4. Disease, Labour Migration and Technological Change: The Case of the Cornish Miners 5. T.N.T. Poisoning and the Employment of Women Workers in the First World War 6. Tuberculosis, Silicosis and the State Industry in North Wales, 1927–1939 7. A Patient in Need of Care: German Occupational Health Statistics 8. Coronary Heart Disease: A Disease of Affluence or a Disease of Industry? Part Three: Compensation 9. The Rise and Decline of Workmen’s Compensation 10. What is an Accident? Part Four: Preventive Policies 11. Workers’ Insurance versus Protection of the Workers: State Social Policy in Imperial Germany 12. An Inspector Calls: Health and Safety at Work in Inter-war Britain 13. ‘The Golden Factory’. Industrial Health and Scientific Management in an Italian Light Engineering Firm. Magnetti Marelli in the Fascist Period

Reviews

Review of the first publication: ‘The editor of this collection of essays ought to be highly commended on his illumination of a grossly neglected, under-researched, indeed, marginalised area of social history—the interconnections between work and health. This book is most welcome…’ — Arthur J. McIvor, Scottish Economic and Social History

Author Information

Paul Weindling is Professor emeritus at Oxford Brookes University, UK. His research interests include the history of eugenics and social welfare, victims of Nazi coerced research and medical experiments, and the history of international health.

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