https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN FRANCE (1896-1940) Colin Haywood BiRKS Submitted in November 1987 for the degree of MLitt. Department of Social Administration and Social Work University o f Glasgow Copyright Colin Birks 1987 ProQuest Number: 10997980 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10997980 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 SUMMARY The purpose of this study is to examine the social, economic and political factors which contributed both to the rise of social work in France and to the forms and categories of social work practice which emerged during the period 1896 to 1946. During the period in question French social work developed from its first organised beginnings, as a religiously inspired movement for social reform and social harmony, into a significant instrument of national social policy. By 1946 training courses for social workers had long been established and were conducted within a strict statutory framework, the value of social work was well recognised by entrepreneurs, and the r61e social workers could play in promoting the health and well-being of children in a nation characterised by slow population growth was understood by governments. It was in 1946 that holders of the State diploma in social work were first given, unequivocally and by statute, the exclusive right to practise as social workers and that the existing professional association of social workers, 1 1 Association Nationale des Assistantes de Service Social, was established. One of the major themes of the thesis is the health care orientation of social work in the context of the pursuit of national power and security through populationist policies. Also discussed is the r61e of social work in promoting industrial harmony and thereby aiding in economic development against a backcloth of paternalistic industrial relations. Particular attention is paid to the impact on social work of the major upheavals caused by the two world wars and the experience of governments of radically different ideological persuasions: the Popular Front and the Vichy regime. The strong and persistent moral content of early social work is a recurrent theme throughout. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 OVERVIEW 6 PART ONE: FACTORS IN THE GROWTH OF FRENCH SOCIAL WORK CHAPTER 1 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES 13 CHAPTER 2 DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND THE INFLUENCE OF WAR 31 CHAPTER 3 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 62 CHAPTER 4 THE ROLE OF THE STATE 91 PART TWO: SOCIAL WORK AND POLITICAL OBJECTIVES CHAPTER 5 THE POPULAR FRONT AND THE RATIONALISATION OF SOCIAL WORK 114 Annexe: Document 1 134 CHAPTER 6 SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: THE 1938 REFORM 137 Annexes: Document 2 145 Document 3 152 Document 4 155 Document 5 160 CHAPTER 7 VICHY AND FAMILY POLICY 165 Annexe: Document 6 191 CHAPTER 8 SOCIAL WORK DURING THE VICHY PERIOD 194 Annexe: Document 7 220 CONCLUSION 224 Appendix 1: Selective Chronology of Social Policy (Britain & France 1841-1939) 252 Appendix 2: R§sum§ of Official Documents in French Social Work (1922-1946) 255 Appendix 3: Glossary of Terms and Biographical Summaries 261 Bibliography 285 LIST OF TABLES AND DOCUMENTS TABLE PAGE 1. Catholic Baptisms, Marriages & Funerals in France (1865-1969) 16 2. Population 1800-1970 (France & Britain) 31 3a. Farmland in France (1955-81) 32 3b. Size of farms in France (1960-78) 32 4. Foreign nationals in France (1901-75) 33 5. Population in three countries (1911) 35 6. Birth rate in France (1913-19) 43 7. Civilian death rate in France (1913-19) 44 8. Fertility, mortality and IMR (1910-39) 57 9. Industrial growth (Britain & France 1910-39) 63 10. The economically active in France (1911-21) 64 11a. Industrial production (France & UK (1946-69) 78 11b. Average annual increase in manufacturing wages (France & UK, 1950-1970) 78 12. Average annual growth rates of income and expenditure (France, UK & OECD average for Europe 1950-1970) 78 13. Schools of social work in France and Overseas Territories (1924-1948) 138 14. Births in France (1928-1946) 182 15. Urban/rural population in France (1911-75) 211 DOCUMENT PAGE 1. Ministerial Circular of April 16th, 1940 (Social work and the maternity and child welfare service) 133 2. Report and Decree of February 18th, 1938 (State Diploma in Social Work) 145 3. Ministerial Order N° 1, dune 13th, 1938 (Regulations governing social work training) 152 4. Ministerial Order N° 2, dune 13th, 1938 (The validation of schools of social work) 155 5. Ministerial Order N° 3, dune 13th, 1938 (The social work training programme) 160 6. "Principes de la Communaut§" (P§tain, 1941) 191 7. Ministerial Circular of May 9th, 1941 (Social work and the maternity and child welfare service) 220 Social Work in France 1896-1946 INTRODUCTION "The nature of most of the other professions and occupations, such as those of the law, medicine, nursing, teaching and architecture, is far less ambiguous, and so the need for........ clarification is less apparent. "The special position of social work in this respect can be put down to two interrelated factors. Social work is not only a relatively young profession but it is also one which derives more directly and more substantially from the particular society of which it is a part than is the case with other professions. Hence its functions and its modes of operation are substantially dependent on existing social structures and are to a great extent affected by the various processes of change within them. In addition, the preoccupation of social work with people and with their social circumstances creates its main occupational risk - that of a lack of specificity, of an inherent ambiguity - which makes it particularly prone to changes and fluctuations, not all of which are necessarily consistent or logical." This short extract from Zofia Butrym's "The Nature of Social Work" provides a large part of the justification for studying social work in other countries. The nature and social role of the profession have been extensively discussed in Britain, especially in the post-war period, and not least during the last few years as the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW) has worked to lay a foundation for the new approach to social work education to be introduced from 1991. Many things might be said about this discussion, but in the present context, that of an analysis of the Social Work in France 1896-1946 Page 1 INTRODUCTION process of emergence and growth of French social work, three comments are felt to be particularly relevant. First, the debate has not been sufficiently rigorous and conclusive to satisfy all observers that social work as an institution is any less problematical than before. Second, surprisingly little attention has been paid in the course of the debates to the ways in which social work is understood, the contexts in which it is practised and the pattern of its development in countries other than our own. The one exception to this is the United States, from which source many of our ideas about social work have been obtained. The European countries, however much closer they are, geographically, historically and culturally, to Britain, have received little attention in mainstream social work literature, a fact which is curious given the pursuit in recent years of harmonisation and a European identity. Closer comparative study might well confirm, as Butrym suggests, that social work is even more diverse and problematical than it appears in its narrow British frame of reference, but that should not be a reason to neglect the broader view. A third proposition is that it is currently of great interest to consider social work in a country in which both its teaching and the conditions in which it is practised have for over half a century been subject to fairly detailed control by the State, as is the case in France. Since the first State diploma in social work was introduced there in 1932 the momentum of central control over the structure and content of social work education has increased inexorably, and governments of different political complexions have sought to use social work in the pursuit of their own ideologically determined goals. The relevance of this derives from the centralising tendencies of the post-1979 Conservative government in Britain. The introduction of a national basic school curriculum, the quest for a greater degree of Social Work in France 1896-1946 Page 2 INTRODUCTION standardisation in social work education against a backcloth of greater control of higher education generally, and the considerable erosion of local authority autonomy are some manifestations of the policy thrust towards tighter control by central government.