Republican social reform in France: The case of the Musee social, 1894-1914

During the 1890's in France, the problem of social reform--commonly referred to as the "social question"--took on a sense of urgency. Contemporaries abandoned the idea that traditional philanthropic endeavors could suffice to remedy the scope of the country's accumulated social problems. Social reform became a new political issue that demanded a reevaluation of the notion of a social contract. This dissertation argues that the major tenets of Republican social reform were developed within a network of extraparliamentary organizations among which the Musee social played a key role. The Musee social's contributions to reform politics in France from 1894 to 1914 are the focus of this study.;Created in 1894 as a private foundation, which received public interest status, the Musee social emanated directly from the Social Economy Exhibit at the 1889 Universal Exposition. According to its by-laws, the Musee social's primary goal was to improve the material and moral conditions of workers' lives and to strive for more harmonious relations between labor and capital. The institution attracted a diverse array of members from the worlds of industry, business, high civil service, politics, philanthropy, labor, social sciences and the liberal professions. Under the banner of "social peace", they met at the Musee social to promote social reform consistent with the ideals of a liberal state. Various strands of social thought from corporate paternalism to interventionism, from social economy to solidarity, combined in a spirit of non-partisan Republican reform.;The social liberals at the Musee social insisted that the welfare policies of the Third Republic be based upon a collaboration between government and private associations. The policy debates of this period, therefore, left an important conceptual legacy for the development of the French welfare state: they stressed the need to find a hybrid solution that combined both public and private forms of social protection. This history of the Musee social hopes to shed new light on an important moment in the evolution of social thought and policy-formation in France.