Antedating of "Globalization"

Stephen Goranson goranson at DUKE.EDU
Thu Sep 15 10:40:55 UTC 2005


Quoting Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Antedating of "Globalization"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> globalization (OED 1961)
>
> 1948 _Hispania_ 31: 94 (JSTOR)  The DeCroly "globalization" method of
> learning is basic.
> [....]

[Jean-]Ovide Decroly (1871-1932) evidently used the term for a stage of child
developmental psychology, e.g., in his book _La fonction de globalisation et
l'enseignement_ (Bruxelles, 1929). His work was translated or discussed in
several publications, including _The Decroly Class: a contribution to
elementary education_ A. Hamaide and J.L. Hunt (NY, 1924). The first
google hit
for "decroly globalization" gives a UNESCO paper on his views, including the
observation that he "explicitly preferred the term 'globalization' to
'schematization', 'syncretism', or 'Gestalt'."

Stephen Goranson



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