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The Short and the Tall: Comparing Stature and Socioeconomic Status for Male Prison and Military Populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2020

Kris Inwood Open the ORCID record for Kris Inwood [Opens in a new window] ,
Rebecca Kippen Open the ORCID record for Rebecca Kippen [Opens in a new window] ,
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart Open the ORCID record for Hamish Maxwell-Stewart [Opens in a new window]  and
Richard Steckel
Kris Inwood
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
Rebecca Kippen
Affiliation:
Monash University
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart*
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
Richard Steckel
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Over the last four decades, historians and social scientists have become increasingly interested in the way in which information about stature might be used to explore the impact of environmental factors on the physical growth and well-being of past populations. A particular problem encountered by many researchers is that height data is only available for selected populations, typically military recruits or those admitted to correctional institutions. Evidence from Australian military and prison records demonstrate how the two social groups, soldiers and prisoners, differed from each other and from the wider population in terms of age, birthplace, occupation, and stature. Different patterns of observable characteristics conceal additional differences in intergenerational experience. We trace male prisoners and soldiers born between 1870 and 1899 in Tasmania to their birth records and thence to the marriages of their parents. This allows us to contrast social and occupational change from father to son for both prisoners and soldiers. We conclude that evidence arising from these institutionalized populations can be used to estimate wider societal trends, although caution needs to be exercised.

Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 44 , Special Issue 3: Selection Bias and Social Science History , Fall 2020 , pp. 463 - 483
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Social Science History Association

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