Abstract
A purpose of historical sociology is to search out universal patterns within a historical perspective. The almost universal concern of the Victorian governing classes with the question of social control and the problem of order suggests such a pattern. This study seeks to direct new evidence towards confirming or denying the validity of this, by examining the exercise of power in nineteenth and early twentieth century adult education. Thus the discontinuities which determine the historical period under investigation coincide with the acceleration of working-class political demands at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and with the promise of a 'new beginning' heralded by the Final Report (Adult Education Committee) of the Ministry of Reconstruction, at the beginning of the twentieth. A great deal of history is written 'from above', i.e, from the standpoint of those who have had the charge of running or influencing the educational activities of other people. To counter this tendency, insights and data emanating 'from below' are, where possible, set against insights and data emanating 'from above', in order to generate a more general theory and in order to delimit the boundaries of existing theory. Hitherto, attention has mainly concentrated on studies of adult education institutions in the northern counties of England; particularly Lancashire and Yorkshire. They are rich sources of evidence, and represent the existing caucus of theory. However, adult education in the southern counties was developing apace in the nineteenth century. A particular relevance of this study is therefore that it is supported by hitherto unrevealed and unresearched data from the county of Surrey; data which reinforce or otherwise qualify those general conclusions drawn from previous studies.