The paternalism is an attitude which consists in acting as a father towards other people on which one exerts or tries to exert a Autorité. This attitude can be voluntary, like involuntary and unconscious.

This term is in particular used in fields like economics, morals or politics. One speaks then about paternalism economic, moral, political, social etc

The paternalist attitude amounts regarding Adulte S as Enfant S. One can say that paternalist a infantilise those on which it exerts, or seeks to exert, an authority. One can also say contrary it is because those are already infantile that causes in return a paternalist tendency.

A similar term to indicate the same thing is patriarchate.

Examples of economic or social paternalism

Several companies at the 19th century and 20th century developed a paternalist management, which - very often - could bring to the workmen a certain number of welfare benefits that the company could not provide them yet in a way generalized like education, housing, the medical care…

The idea which prevailed then - for certain lit, Christian or liberal owners - was the idea to take care of " leurs" workmen so that they are content - even proud - with their company, productive with work and faithful to the employer who often located his economic action in a model of the " use with life for its ouvriers". I.e. the poor or more generally the popular classes need to be framed, directed, moralized in order to be able to possibly reach the statute envied of the middle-classes or privileged leading classes.

One in the manners of proceeding was to give of decorations to the deserving workers or to organize contests, such of the contests of order and domestic cleanliness.

This employers especially set up of working works intended to control the workmen, and to frame them and to try to gradually take them along to a mode and a saving hygiene of life.

At the end of the 19th century, for the liberals in Belgium, teaching and the culture are the principal means of the improvement of the social situation. The catholics answer by important efforts in favor of the “good press” and the choice of “good books”.

The industrial companies known to have developed a paternalist management at the previous centuries are:

• Michelin,
• the Textile industry,
• the mining Industry,
• the company Miller
• the bibi magazine
• the Phalanstery of Own way, created by Jean-Baptiste Andre Godin

See too

Related articles

• Infantilisation

External bonds

• Political paternalist: the housing of the miners with Rock-the-Molière (1875-1945) - Test

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