Shaping Adolescence in the Popular Milieu: Social Policy, Reformers, and French Youth, 1870–1920

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of a modern concept of adolescence in France during the early Third Republic and its influence on social reform policies designed for youths from the popular classes. The author looks at reforms in the areas of general education, labor, vocational education, and juvenile corrections in order to demonstrate the growing official awareness of adolescence as a distinct and unique stage of life. The author suggests that vigilant adult supervision, institutional representation, as well as expert articulation of a psychology of adolescence characterize the modern notion of adolescence that developed in the decades around 1900.

Representations of Adolescence in the Modern City: Voluntary Provision and Work in Nottingham and Saint-Etienne, 1890-1914

“…5 To deal with the inherent dangers of this condition, a new "pedagogy based on vigilance" was advocated. 6 Around the turn of the century, the recognition of adolescence by contemporaries as a "distinct and universal stage of life" was occurring not only in France but throughout the West. 7 French pedagogues and scientists were influenced by their anglophone counterparts, in particular the psychologist G. S. Hall, who provided the first systematic analysis of adolescence in 1904.…”