Learning and new sociability

The article presents evidence of a shift in the conception of childhood towards communication, social intercourse and interaction as central forces in shaping children’s identities in Spain during the last decades of the eighteenth century. Following a significant shift of meaning regarding the concept of children’s “inclinations”, the contribution demonstrates the major transformations related to this shift and traces back its origins to the acceptance of sensualistic ideas and topoi. The new emphasis on the power of educational environments, although certainly connected to the aim of disciplining childhood, channelled attention to the shape of the adult world as an educative environment. In the end, the relevance of a rich interactive medium also favoured the new legitimacy of schooling as a technology for dealing with childhood

Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Legitimacy · Literature · Meaning (existential · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Social science · Sociology · Topos theory · Gender Studies · Historical Education Studies Worldwide · History of Education in Spain · Law · Psychology · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies