Psykiatri og professionssamarbejde – betydningen for differentiering i skolesystemet i Danmark i 1930-1950

Abstract

The focus in this article is an analysis of the development of psychiatric practices in relation to the school system in Denmark in the period 1930-1950. The differentiation of schoolchildren in this period took place not only due to new and advanced testing practices but also due to the emerging collaborations between different professions, such as educationalists, psychologists and psychiatrists. The article examines these types of differentiation through an investigation of the forms of psychiatric institutionalizations related to the school system in 1930s and onward. These processes of differentiation developed because of a societal need to sort schoolchildren, thereby relating the shaping of new disciplines and professions within education, psychology and psychiatry. In line with Michel Foucault, the emerging collaboration is examined as an expression of biopower managing the life of the population and defining standards of normality and deviancy. The sources applied in the articles include a selection of documents from the key agents of the period.