Van de Poel-Knottnerus, Frédérique

Literary Narratives on the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century French Elite Educational System

2002 0-7734-7033-6

Social Worlds of Male and Female Children in the Nineteenth Century French Educational System Youth, Rituals and Elites

1999 0-7734-7912-0
This volume conducts an historical comparative investigation of the elite school system for boys (lycées - secondary educational system) and girls (religious boarding schools) in 19th century France. An elaborated model of the total institution is used to analyze the educational organizations in which children were educated. The study also uses literary texts such as novels and short stories, diaries, memoirs, and (fictionalized) autobiographies to describe and compare the personal lives, social worlds, and structures of boys and girls in these two types of institutions. A theory of structural ritualization is employed to explain how these groups were influenced by the institutional milieus they were nested within. Underlying this study is the fundamental assumption that literature and sociological concepts can be used together to better understand social historical processes and structures.