The Small Group and Democratic Social Engineering, 1900–1950

Abstract

Democratic social engineering was a method of social control utilizing the small group, discussion, leadership, and participation of the objects of control. Grounded in late 19th‐century progressive education, pragmatic philosophy, and the social sciences, the technique was especially prominent between 1917 and 1945. Case studies of the foremen's clubs, the Golden Age clubs, pediatrician Benjamin Spock, and Kurt Lewin describe and analyze the practice of democratic social engineering. They serve as a backdrop for a concluding discussion of alternatives.

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