This thesis aims to analyze the benefits and limits of the conservative reform that the French bourgeois reformers pursued through the activities of Musée Social, which served as a think-tank for the social reform at the turn of the 20th century. The Third Republic of France maintained its system despite challenges from the right and the left. It was possible because the republic accomplished social reform through different kinds of social legislation in pursuit of social peace. The civil think-tank played an important role in preparing for that social legislation.
Musée Social, which was founded in 1894, functioned as a research center for socio-economics and social sciences, and worked on social problems and their solutions. Musée Social advised and supported civil activities to solve social problems, serving as the center of a network that connected different civil society groups. It also suggested solutions to social problems through surveys and publications on the problems. The first solution to social problems that Musée Social emphasized was the expansion of the Voluntary Social Insurance, Cooperative Organizations and Mutual Societies. The nation’s intervention through social legislation was emphasized within the limit of supporting those voluntary efforts.
The activities of Musée Social have historical significance in terms of the formation of a civil think-tank, which pursued social reform. However, their activities, which sought partnership between the forces of labor and the forces of capital, excluded the revolutionary labor and socialist movements, which pursued more radical social reform or revolution. Musée Social emphasized gradual and conservative social reform to maintain social order and peace.