The politics of the self: psychological science and bourgeois subjectivity in 19th century Spain

Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the process of institutionalization of psychological knowledge in Spain following the educative reforms implemented during the second third of the 19^th century, which prescribed its inclusion in the curricular program of the new secondary education. After a detailed examination of the theoretical orientation, the ideological assumptions and the sociopolitical connections of the contents transmitted to the students throughout the century, its militant spiritualism is interpreted as a highly significant attempt on the part of the liberal elites to articulate a pedagogy of subjectivity intended to counteract the trends toward reduction, naturalization and fragmentation of psychic life inherent to the development of modern science.