A Laboratory of Anarchy? The London Pioneer Health Centreand the Experimentalisation of the Social,1935–1950

Abstract

A Laboratory of Anarchy? The London Pioneer Health Centre and the Experimentalisation of the Social, 1935-1950

This article takes a micro-historical look at the «Peckham Experiment», conducted in South London between 1935 and 1950. In the «Pioneer Health Centre», workingclass families could freely organise recreational activities, their physical and social development being closely observed by physicians. The article traces how theories on social evolution were structuring the doctors’ gaze on an experimental space originally conceived to study the effects of health promotion. It also argues that the scientists’ hands-off attitude evolved out of epistemological challenges they were facing when interacting with their «guinea pigs». In a bestselling 1943 book, the experimenters were rejecting interventionist thinking, theorising on the creative potential of individuals and the power of social groups to self-organise – generating insights that were discussed around the world, still haunting British political debates today. The article thus serves as a case study on hopes placed in social experimentation in the 20th century and its «governmental» effects.