Les grands-parents en France du XVIIe siècle au début du XXe siècle
Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: This article introduces thesis work whose goal is to pave the way for a history of grand- parenthood from the modern era onwards. This subject has been largely ignored until recently, due to a belief in the absence of grand-parents in the midst of the family until the 20th century. With the help of parish and census records, and Ancien Régime documents, we will disprove this belief and show the importance of grand-parents from the 18th century onwards. A study of literary and pictoral sources even indicates that it is at the time of the dominance of Enlightenment thought that the idea of « softie » grand-parents — which will dominate in the next century at first appears. This grand-parental ideal is in fact established as a political weapon against holistic or hierarchical conceptualisations of the State. In addition, the 19th century bourgeoisie uses it as one of the leading icons for its own model family, which it promotes in the immense symbolical battle it is fighting against the noble or popular models.
Source: Histoire économie et société
Author: Vincent Gourdon
Institution: Centre Roland Mousnier
Language: French
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2017573251