Saving and housing: two objectives of the moralizing paradigm in Chile during the beginning of the twenty century

Authors

  • Simón Castillo Fernández Doctor en Arquitectura y Estudios Urbanos. Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad Diego Portales
  • Javiera Letelier Carvajal Magíster en Historia y Políticas Sociales. Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Abstract

Saving and sanitary housing, replacing waste of money and tenements, were two great interests of political groups and the public sphere at the beginning the last century. In the era of ‘social issue’, the call and action to improve the quality of life of the urban population and moral improvement, it was a way to achieve social stability and workers adapted to the system of capitalist production. However, not everyone could respond to this call and become homeowners. Only sectors with saving capacity embraced a policy change that sought to moralize and change inappropriate behavior of the masses.

Keywords:

saving, housing, moralization, social control, social issue