Elite Education in Nineteenth-Century Chile

Abstract

T HE elite of nineteentlh-century Chile has traditionally been seen as disciplined, progressive, and indudstiious. Both Chilean and foreign scholars have generally accepted the argument that such essentially bourgeois chairacteristics underlay the nation's uniquie political stability and economic pIrosperity. In fact, this pervasive view of Chilean history probably has some meiIt. To a remarkable extent, Chile's gente decente, as the elite styled itself, was able to maintain internal discipline, preserve a degree of homogeneity, and achieve national political consensus through parliamentary governmeint. How Chileans achieved the elite consolidation and political stability whiclh their counterparts in neiglhboring states found so elusive is the subject of this essay.' Recent studies in social history suggest that elite formation is often not a random process but may in part proceed deliberately throuigh formal socialization and eduication of youth. In countries such as England and the United States, where the state did not involve itself directly in civic

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