The body populace

Viac o knihe

In pre-World War I Europe, individual fitness became increasingly linked to the health of society, with army recruitment serving as a key method for assessing male citizens' fitness. This raised critical questions about defining fitness for soldiers and its broader implications. Heinrich Hartmann examines the historical context that influenced collective understandings of fitness, intertwined with fears of demographic decline and degeneration. This dynamic was fueled by the exchange of knowledge among European nations and military confrontations. Hartmann presents a history of military statistics in Germany, France, and Switzerland leading up to World War I, highlighting how conscription data revealed insights into the population's health and fitness. The conscription examinations, rooted in masculine ideals, extended beyond individual assessments to reflect societal measurements. Scholars aimed to quantify the "nation," using examination data to conceptualize society as a measurable "collective body." This work delves into the historical specificity of data-gathering methods, their implications, and their role in the evolving historiography of Big Data. It illuminates a pivotal period in European history when statistical data and demographic insights influenced new notions of masculinity, fueled fears of degeneration, and contributed to the rise of eugenic ideologies.