Absolutism and the Eighteenth-Century Origins of Compulsory Schooling in Prussia and Austria

by James van Horn Melton

Overview

Focusing on the reigns of Frederick the Great of Prussia (1740-86) and Maria Theresa of Austria (1740-80), James Van Horn Melton examines in this book the origins, aims, and achievements of the compulsory school movements in these states. Melton draws on a broad range of sources to show how school reform was part of a broader effort to transform social, economic, and cultural behavior at the popular level.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521528566
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/13/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

List of tables; List of abbreviations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Administrative divisions of the Habsburg and Hohenzolln monarchies, 1780; Part I. Cultural and Religious Forces: 1. Popular schooling in early modern Prussia and Austria; 2. The rise of Pietist pedagogy; 3. From image to word: cultural reform and the rise of literate culture in Theresian Austria; 4. The catholic appropriation of Pietist pedagogy: Johann Ignaz Felbiger; Part II. Social and Economic Forces: 5. Mastering the masterless: cameralism, rural industry, and popular education; 6. From compulsory labor to compulsory schooling: education and the crisis of seigniorial authority; Part III. The Limits of Reform: 7. School reform in Frederickian Prussia; 8. The Theresian school reform of 1774; Conclusion; Selected bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"James Van Horn Melton has produced an important work on the educational policies of the absolute state and the social purposes behind them." The Eighteenth Century

From the Publisher