Att komma tillrätta med "sinnesslöhet" : En studie på barnavårds- och fattigvårdsstyrelsens definition av ”sinnesslöa” i Växjö stad under åren 1934-1941

Sammanfattning: This study is based on the child welfare agency and social welfare board definition in Växjö City about the people who were defined as feebleminded and which solution they choose for this “social problem”, with focus if they used sterilization as a solution to this “problem” during the years 1934-1941. The individuals who were regarded as feebleminded were alcoholics, unemployed, people who were feeble in their mind, people who had mental diseases, people who were vagrants and poor people. According to earlier research these people were categorized in a subclass and their behavior were not regarded as ordinary like a human who had a healthy mind, according to that period believes. The boards in Växjö defined the feebleminded people with mentally deficient minds, mental retardation, poverty and in some cases disturbed self-activity. However the most common definition of the feebleminded was mentally deficient minds and mental retardation. The solution they came up with was rearrangement of the children who were living in poor family circumstances, and they also did rearrangements of the adults who were defined as feebleminded with mentally deficient minds. They were relocated to different establishments for treatment. This solution was the board’s way to handle the feebleminded people because they wanted them to get healthy and as the source material points to that they had no economical or social interest in sterilizing feebleminded which the earlier research pointed to.