Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation

by Alan Hunt

This broad-ranging history of moral regulation in Britain and the United States from the late seventeenth century onward, covers specific movements such as the Society for the Reformation of Manners, the Vice Society, sexual abuse and anti-pornography movements, and self-help movements. Hunt argues that the main impetus for moral regulations often stems from the middle classes, rather than those with institutional power, but most significantly they provide classic instances of the intimate link between the "governance of others" and the "governance of the self."

Hardcover

First published August 13, 1999

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Reviews

[Ravi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am a little bit puzzled how the Alan Hunt of Law, State and Society, a much more explicitly Marxist Hunt (the book is dedicated to Poulantzas!) became the Hunt of Governing Morals, I still found his account to be scholarly and well written. It is a book that may not be entirely accessible to every reader but I think those studying sociology will find it useful. I certainly learned much about the purity movements of the 19th century in Britain and America. I would be interested if other scholars have interrogated the purity movements in light of issues of race or disability. Eugenics is briefly addressed but Hunt does not pay a great deal of attention to it. Nonetheless this is a book worth reading.