Fine arts and good manners: female education in the dominant classes

Abstract

Two dominant traditional theories are at the disposal of those intending to analyse the education or upper-class females: on one hand, those who perceive education as a product of class, and, on the other hand, the theories that show education as a sexually differentiated product. After demonstrating the shortfalls of each of the perspectives, the author puts to the test, by means of an empirical study, the relevance of a theoretical framework, integrating both these perspectives. The empirical analysis focuses on the types offemale education, starting from infancy and ending with adolescence, which were in force in Lisbon's dominant classes for some decades.