SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN THE 1870'S

literature and childhood

Abstract

This study aims at relating the way a child is portrayed in Brazilian literature texts to the new social configuration the country takes on during the First Republic. Writings by Jose Veríssimo, Inglês de Sousa, and Raul Pompéia, representatives of a generation of intellectuals that tried to modernize the country by updating institutions and spreading scientific knowledge, are used in this paper to study the connection between childhood and social pedagogy. From this perspective, it can be observed that the image of innocence Romanticism had linked to childhood, away from adults' corruption and melancholy, has been modified. A child is now seen as a being that precedes an adult, and that must be watched and controlled so that his/her instincts may be adapted to the demands of socialization and economic production.