Pedagogy and custom education in an old children's book: Der Struwwelpeter

Abstract

Based on a children's book originally published in Germany in 1845, Der Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffman, the present study grasps how diffuse pedagogies act on the agents, moulding both the structure of their feelings and the practical perception, appreciation and action schemes necessary to the integration of individuals in the social world. We understand that studying children's books is a privileged occasion to unveil the ways through which educational institutions contribute to the adhesion of individuals to the social order. We thus come to the conclusion that the pedagogy of Der Struwwelpeter is intended to subordinate children to urban life and stimulates an early self-regulating attitude. That is attained by impressing a "practical belief" meant to regulate children's rhythms and relations, as well as to transfer a number of "practical metaphors" destined to enable their adhesion to a risk-marked world.