ABSTRACT

The Peckham Experiment, conducted between 1935 and 1950 in the London Pioneer Health Centre, was one of the most talked-about social experiments of the 20th century. Families from the South London neighbourhood of Peckham were invited to use the facilities of a radiantly modern building. They were encouraged to freely choose and organize their leisure activities, taking advantage of a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and a self-service cafeteria. In doing so, both their health status and interaction with other members of the nascent centre-community were closely observed by a team of physicians.

The first research monograph on the history of the experiment building on archival sources, this book combines a micro-historical perspective with methods from the history of science. It shows how bio-medical holism and evolutionary theories typical of the interwar years informed research on social life in the centre. But it also reveals that the "guinea pigs", too, were trying to make sense of the research they were taking part in. The outcome was an ambiguous social laboratory that generated new insights into the power of social groups to self-organize, which were soon discussed all over the world – and continue to haunt British political debates today.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|22 pages

From C3 to A1

Reforming the working-class family (1925–1931)

chapter 3|11 pages

St Mary’s Road, S.E.15

New premises, initial routines? (1931–1935)

chapter 4|20 pages

“Living structure of society”

The magnum opus and its scientific context

chapter 5|17 pages

Looking through the bioscope

Research and social interaction in the pre-war centre (1935–1939)

chapter 6|3 pages

Interim findings

chapter 7|13 pages

The centre in photographs

Visual stimulation and participant observation

chapter 8|10 pages

Guinea pigs?

The members between participation and social control

chapter 9|15 pages

Missed opportunities

The centre and the welfare state (1939–1946)

chapter 10|18 pages

“The Passing of Peckham” (1946–1959)

chapter 12|4 pages

Preliminary conclusion

The Pioneer Health Centre as liberal missing link?

chapter 13|27 pages

The promise of Peckham

Hidden legacies

chapter 14|3 pages

Epilogue