Individuality and modernity in Berlin : self and society from Weimar to the Wall / Moritz Föllmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Föllmer, Moritz, author.

Series:

New studies in European history.

New studies in European history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Individuality--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Individuality.

Self--Social aspects--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Self.

Risk--Social aspects--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Risk.

Agent (Philosophy)--Social aspects--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Agent (Philosophy).

Social isolation--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Social isolation.

City and town life--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

City and town life.

Social change--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Social change.

Politics and culture--Germany--Berlin--History--20th century.

Politics and culture.

Berlin (Germany)--Social life and customs--20th century.

Berlin (Germany).

Berlin (Germany)--Social conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 312 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Individuality & Modernity in Berlin

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Moritz Föllmer traces the history of individuality in Berlin from the late 1920s to the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. The demand to be recognised as an individual was central to metropolitan society, as were the spectres of risk, isolation and loss of agency. This was true under all five regimes of the period, through economic depression, war, occupation and reconstruction. The quest for individuality could put democracy under pressure, as in the Weimar years, and could be satisfied by a dictatorship, as was the case in the Third Reich. It was only in the course of the 1950s, when liberal democracy was able to offer superior opportunities for consumerism, that individuality finally claimed the mantle. Individuality and Modernity in Berlin proposes a fresh perspective on twentieth-century Berlin that will engage readers with an interest in the German metropolis as well as European urban history more broadly.

Contents:

Introduction

Part I. Weimar Berlin: 1. Risk, isolation and unstable selfhood; 2. Flexibility, authenticity and consumption; 3. Reform, scandal and extremism

Part II. Nazi Berlin: 4. Redefining legitimate individuality; 5. Jewish Berliners' ambiguous quest for agency; 6. Heroism, withdrawal and privatist loyalty

Part III. Post-War and Cold-War Berlin: 7. Defeat, self-help and the dissociation from Nazism; 8. Socialist ambitions and individualist expectations; 9. Anti-totalitarianism, domesticity and ambivalent modernity

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-61108-9

1-107-23764-5

1-139-61294-8

1-139-62224-2

1-283-94324-7

1-139-62596-9

1-139-60928-9

1-139-38097-4

1-139-61666-8

OCLC:

824512560