Images du peuple : discours et représentations des élites lyonnaises au XVIIIe siècle
Abstracts
During the XVIIIth century, the changing perception of social relations appears through the discourse of Lyon's elite, which, in the grip of fear and contempt, is used to objectivize and keep a growing multitude of unruly manufacturing craftsmen at a distance. The vision of the people, at once pragmatic and filled with fantasy, legitimates the repression and the élite supremacy. Nevertheless, its special care for social issues makes the judgment balanced. Soon, at the age of Enlightenment, the charity ethics sketches out the tragic figure of a romanticized people. The advent of a true political reflexion, which confers to the worker an increased stature and a more human aspect, prevails throughout the charity rhetoric. The precocious concern for urban and scientific problems induce a progressive but cautious discourse, which gives the people a new insight into the economic strategies.
References
Electronic reference
Claire Simon, “Images du peuple : discours et représentations des élites lyonnaises au XVIIIe siècle”, Cahiers d'histoire [Online], 44-1 | 1999, Online since , connection on 28 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ch/50; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/ch.50
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