The Making of a Good White - E-thesis - Helsinki.fi

“It was stated by neighbours however that Mr. E. and this girl are living
together as man and wife. During a recent interview with Mr. E. he
confessed that this was the case.” (CHL, SWR: 1949.)
In the archival findings the language of guilt, shame, confessions and reprimanding
characterises this hide-and-seek-game, which could turn dramatic
at times. Social workers were never out of work, for there always
seemed to be people in need of help. The reactions to this varied from isolation
from other residents and the evasion of the uplifters to adaptation to
situation and playing along in the constant social drama of the suburb.
The Central Role of the Nuclear Family Unit 138
It is still important to remember that Epping Garden Village was never a
closed institution, but an outwardly normal suburb. It was thus essential
for the elite to present the process of upliftment as philanthropy towards
families, which was the accepted form of intervention at the time – also
in Europe (Donzelot 1979). Philanthropy was an excellent method with
which to combine assistance and medical-hygienist thinking into one
functioning system. The most important unit of rehabilitation was thus
the family, and families were treated as wholes.
Ideally the basis of every household in EGV was a married couple.
Those couples caught co-habiting ”as man and wife” were promptly
given two options: either get married or leave. In the case of extramarital
affairs, the transgressors were punished and separated. Solid married life
was a sign and a condition of people’s successful upliftment.
The marital relations of the tenants were thus kept under the Company’s
watchful eye. This surveillance did not mean the mere control
of sexual exclusivity, although it was a large part thereof, but also the
stability of the relationship between the spouses. During these first years
divorce was actively discouraged, and a woman’s lot in a marriage was
to endure. A deserted woman received plenty of sympathy, whereas a
woman who could not or did not want to stay in an unsatisfying union
was readily deemed bad.
138 Codes used to produce the text of this sub-chapter were: Families and Social Relations,
Control and Social Relations, Parenthood and Institutions, Parenthood and Social
Control; Parenthood and Social Relations; Parenthood and Professional Co-operation;
Marital Relations; Marital Relations and Space, use of; Marital Relations and Spaceexclusion.
149