Ville et prison : discours d'hygiénistes réformateurs à Montréal au cours de la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle

Abstract

This study is a discursive analysis which emphasises the notions of moral depravation, urban milieu and prison in the hygienists' discourse. Their knowledge focuses on the human-milieu relationship and is structured in such a way as to promote a vast program of reform. From their standpoint, filth, miasmas, putrefaction, and the cramming together of a massive population with a large contingent of indigents, meant the spread of physical diseases and moral depravation. Packed in the slums, repeatedly entering the local prison for a few days, a segment of the population was at the center of the hygienist preoccupation. Furthermore, the prison was perceived as reproducing defective urban conditions. Reforming both the city and the prison was conceived as a similar project. Reading the social organization as an entity meant that moral depravation is an indicator of the state of society as a whole and therefore should be a concern for everyone.