Description
Book SynopsisAs a nineteenth-century think-tank that sought answers to France's pressing "social question," the Musee Social reached across political lines to forge a reformist alliance founded on an optimistic faith in social science. This book presents the story of this institution.
Trade Review“[An] elegantly presented book . . . . “ - Maurice Larkin,
Times Literary Supplement"This is an extremely useful analysis for anyone interested not only in French social welfare, but also in the history of the parapolitical sphere, associational life among France's elite, and the shifting boundaries between public and private. . . . Horne has done an excellent job of widening the scope of social welfare history, giving us all a whole new range of actors and issues to contemplate." - Steve M. Beaudoin,
Journal of Social History"[An] accomplished book." - Elizabeth Sage,
Journal of Modern History"Horne's excellent book is a welcome addition to a growing body of historical works on the late nineteenth-century origins of the French welfare state." - Joshua Cole,
Social History“Janet Horne’s book provides not only an excellent history of the Musée Social but also an important new perspective on the activities of turn-of-the-twentieth-century reform networks. It demonstrates that the Musée Social constituted a unique French institution, free from Jacobin, centralizing pressures,where experts, intellectuals, and administrators could interact among themselves. Her work reveals the misunderstood but essential role played by independent reformers in the modernization of France.”—Pierre Rosanvallon, directeur d'études à l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales
“This book is far more than the history of a single institution. It is also a thoughtful examination of political ideology and social discourse in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and an important and convincing argument about the origins of social policy in the Third Republic.”—Don Reid, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“[An] elegantly presented book . . . . “ -- Maurice Larkin * TLS *
"[An] accomplished book." -- Elizabeth Sage * Journal of Modern History *
"Horne's excellent book is a welcome addition to a growing body of historical works on the late nineteenth-century origins of the French welfare state." -- Joshua Cole * Social History *
"This is an extremely useful analysis for anyone interested not only in French social welfare, but also in the history of the parapolitical sphere, associational life among France's elite, and the shifting boundaries between public and private. . . . Horne has done an excellent job of widening the scope of social welfare history, giving us all a whole new range of actors and issues to contemplate." -- Steve M. Beaudoin * Journal of Social History *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Part One. Rhetoric of Reform
1. The Modern Sphinx: Debating the Social Question in Nineteenth-
Century France
2. Inventing a Social Museum
Part Two. Networking for Reform
3. A Genealogy of Republican Reform
4. A Laboratory for Social Reform
Part Three. Implementing Reform
5. Voluntary Associations and the Republican Ideal
6. The Modernity of Hygiene: Interventions in the City
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
