Rationalization of the offer and strategies of social distinction: relationship between school, city and family in the nineteenth century (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo)

Abstract

The aim of this article is discuss the effects of schools allocation taking into consideration the tensions between the statistical rationalization, the State administration and the mechanisms of distinction and selection formed by social groups as ways of survival and social mobility, in three moments of the relationship between school and city: the installation, maintenance and consolidation of the school in a given region. For this purpose, we work with cases of the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in the nineteenth century. It was observed that families and social groups had active participation on the selection and hierarchy of the offer and on the orientation of the demands for public schools. The geographical location of a school was not the only determining factor in the configuration of the public who attended that school.