LE PLAY, FRÉDÉRIC. - Engineer and professor, precursor of the Catholic social movement, though on a purely observational level; b. at La-Rivière-St-Sauveur on 11 Apr. 1806, d. in Parigi on 5 Apr. 1882.
From the revolution of 1830 he understood the gravity of the social crisis, and thereafter devoted himself to studying the progress of working-class life and especially of the family, conducting an inquiry into 300 model families from 1829 to 1853 (Les ouvriers européens, 1855). From 1860 onward in particular, he broadened his horizon by entering fully into reforming activity. The ideas contained in Réforme sociale en France (1867), Organisation du travail (1879), La méthode sociale (1879), and many other works were applied by the « Union de la paix sociale » and, after 1881, propagated by the journal La réforme sociale. His plan was above all moral: he reproached the Revolution with three great errors: that of man's original perfection, that of individual infallibility, and that of absolute equality. The remedy he proposed consisted in restoring respect in three forms: respect for God and religion; respect for the father and obedience; respect for woman, or moral chastity. Le P. was little favorable to associations: he looked to the reform of authority, which led him to paternalism.
His work was continued by two schools: reforming activity by the « Ecole de la paix sociale », and the positive work of observation and research by the « Ecole de la science sociale », founded in 1885 by M. Demolins and the abbé de Tourville.