Summary

This work aims to find out how the adoption of the liberal model of development and the ongoing project of economic modernization, affected the city of Concepción during the second half of the nineteenth century, in relation to the mechanisms of social control used by the governing elites. The core of this study is centered on the role that the police played in the policy of discipline in Concepción. For this case, we have considered Michel Foucault's theory, that the police is a relevant condition for the existence of urbanity. Liberalism, within the period of time considered in this work, understood that in order for the country to achieve socioeconomic progress of the country, it was necessary to establish social order. It was made a priority then, to convert the urban poor from “dangerous people” to “working-class”, because of this educational and punitive policy was combined in the search for such intentions. The role of the police was crucial in this process, as they made the installation of unifying elite discourses in subaltern groups possible. Through the appropriation of these discourses the subalterns themselves helped to contribute towards the building of hegemonies.