The Generation of Social Capital and the Conformation of Identities in the Schools of the Spanish Postwar Period (1939-1945): study of the Montesión School Magazine

Abstract

This research is part of the study of private religious schools from 1939 to 1945, years immediately after the Spanish Civil War. Specifically, a study focused on the Montesión School in Palma was carried out on the basis of the school magazine published by the same school. The 53 copies, subjected to the rigorous criticism required by the historical method applied, offer a 'window' through which one can observe the daily life of a confessional school at a time marked by controversy and characterized by a political transition, which established a new correlation of forces and a new regulatory framework. The analysis of the contents of the school journal suggests that the functions undertaken by the Jesuit publication went beyond informing and entertaining. The generation of social capital together with the creation of a collective identity among readers (students, alumni, families, teachers, etc.) are some examples of the implicit intentions pursued by the magazine.In conclusion, the study offers new explanatory models regarding a corporate instrument, which was part of a mechanism whose main objective was the perpetuation of an educational, social and business model.