Taking Prisoners: Havelock Ellis, Sigmund Freud, and the Construction of Homosexuality, 1897–1951

This paper addresses the efforts of both Havelock Ellis and Sigmund Freud to posit a theory of homosexuality, and especially considers their efforts to (re-)negotiate each other's theories. Its central premise derives from the sociology of scientific knowledge: that it is not what is written, b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social history of medicine : the journal of the Society for the Social History of Medicine 2000-12, Vol.13 (3), p.447-466
Main Author: CROZIER, Ivan Dalley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Ellis
Epistemology
Freud
Freud, Sigmund
Havelock Ellis
History of medicine
History of science and technology
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Homosexuality
Homosexuality - history
Intellectual History
Joseph Wortis
Life sciences
Medical branches
Medicine
surgery
pharmacy
Pathology
Psychiatry
psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis - history
Psychoanalytic Interpretation
Psychology - history
Scientific Knowledge
sex psychology
Sigmund Freud
Social Constructionism
Sociology of Knowledge
sociology of scientific knowledge
Sociology, Medical - history
United Kingdom
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Summary:This paper addresses the efforts of both Havelock Ellis and Sigmund Freud to posit a theory of homosexuality, and especially considers their efforts to (re-)negotiate each other's theories. Its central premise derives from the sociology of scientific knowledge: that it is not what is written, but the way that what is written is treated by ensuing experts, that makes knowledge. In the case study used in this paper, Ellis and Freud struggle to posit what they consider to be the proper model for understanding homosexual desire. They utilize aspects of each other's work, but are careful not to appear to be following, each other too closely. Such a struggle to establish different schools of thought is exemplified by the informal negotiations engaged in when a student, Joseph Wortis, made contact with both Freud and Ellis. Again following sociology of scientific knowledge precepts, these informal negotiations (contained in published and archival letters) are used to show how knowledge claims are constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed by the actors who have stakes in the outcome of what is to be regarded as knowledge in the relevant communities.
ISSN:0951-631X
1477-4666
DOI:10.1093/shm/13.3.447