{"product_id":"measuring-difference-numbering-normal-setting-the-standards-for-disability-in-the-interwar-period-9781526143174","title":"Measuring Difference, Numbering Normal: Setting","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is available as an open access ebook under a CC-BY licence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeasurements, and their manipulation, have been underestimated as crucial historical forces motivating and guiding the way we think about disability. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing measurement technology as a lens, and examining in particular the measurement of hearing and breathing, this book draws together several existing discussions on disability, phenomenology, healthcare, medical practice, big data, embodiment, and emerging medical and scientific technologies around the turn of the twentieth century. These are popular topics of scholarly attention but have not, until now, been considered as interconnected topics within a single book. As such, this work connects several important, and usually separate academic subject areas and historical specialisms. The standards embedded in instrumentation created strict, but, ultimately arbitrary thresholds of what is categorised as normal and abnormal. Considering these standards from a long historical perspective reveals how these dividing lines shifted when pushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e'\u003ci\u003eMeasuring Difference, Numbering Normal\u003c\/i\u003e is a valuable contribution to a vibrant discussion at the intersection of STS and disability studies, speaking directly to work by Lundy Braun, Mara Mills, and Jaipreet Virdi. It speaks too to STS work on quantification and the normalising of privileged bodies, as in the writings of Michelle Murphy and Jacqueline Wernimont.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSocial History of Medicine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003ci\u003eMeasuring Difference, Numbering Normal\u003c\/i\u003e is a complex work in that it deals with the construction of physical norms at the theoretical, historical, social and cultural levels. A very careful reading is necessary to grasp the richness of the references and sources used by the author to structure and deploy her arguments. This is indeed an ambitious book that seeks to measure the weight of the different actors – from doctors to engineers, from administrators to entrepreneurs – who participate in the development of standards of human physiology. This book highlights the erasure of users, whose expertise, although precious, is set aside and rarely solicited. It also reveals the consequences of these \"arbitrary\" but objectified norms on the construction of disability that result from a socially and culturally determined operation rather than from a series of scientifically rigorous observations. […] this remarkable work … can be considered an essential read for any historian and philosopher of science and technology, as well as for those interested in disability studies.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCanadian Bulletin of Medical History\u003c\/i\u003e, Corinne Doria\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'What constituted a normal body in interwar Britain? Widely explored by scholars of eugenics, war, sexuality, and physical culture, McGuire skilfully turns this question to confront the figures and calculations used to define ‘normal’ and its inverse during this period.'\u003cbr\u003e20th Century British History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMcGuire's telling of history is engaging and thorough, providing colorful and, at times, emotive context to a wide range of organizations, products, and medical conditions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eH-Disability\u003c\/i\u003e (January, 2024)\u003c\/p\u003e -- .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e1 Numbering normal\u003cbr\u003e2 Measuring disability\u003cbr\u003e3 The artificial ear and the disability data gap\u003cbr\u003e4 The audiometer and the medicalization of hearing loss\u003cbr\u003e5 The spirometer and the normal subjects\u003cbr\u003e6 The respirator and the mechanization of normal breathing\u003cbr\u003e7 Measuring ourselves\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Manchester University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51041003864407,"sku":"9781526143174","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781526143174.jpg?v=1750948569","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/measuring-difference-numbering-normal-setting-the-standards-for-disability-in-the-interwar-period-9781526143174","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}