A New History of Identity

"This book maps the emergence of the figure of the modern 'person' from its anatomical origins in the nineteenth century to its psychological and reflexive individuality in the early twenty-first century. Using medical texts as a means of accessing contemporary perceptions of the patient - for example, through changing conceptualizations of illnesses, modes of treatment, techniques of examination and patterns of health care - the text provides a history of the process of identity construction. The result is an account of the invention of Man - physical, mental and behavioural - over the last century or so, together with an examination of the changing ways in which knowledge of Man's identity has become established."--Jacket.