Spaces of honor : making German civil society, 1700-1914 / Heikki Lempa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lempa, Heikki, author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Series:

Social history, popular culture, and politics in Germany

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil society--Germany--History.

Civil society.

Honor--Germany--History.

Honor.

History.

Germany--Social life and customs.

Germany.

Manners and customs.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 229 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The common understanding is that honor belongs to a bygone era, whereas civil society belongs to the future and modern society. Heikki Lempa argues that honor was not gone or even in decline between 1700 and 1914, and that civil society was not new but had long roots that stretched into the Middle Ages. In fact, what is peculiar for this era in Germany were the deep connections between practices of honor and civil society. This study focuses on collective actions of honor and finds them, in a series of case studies, at such communal spaces as schools, theaters, lunch and dinner tables, spas, workers' strikes, and demonstrations. It is in these collective actions that we see civil society in making. The Spaces of Honor sees civil society not primarily as an idea or an intellectual project but as a set of practices shaped in physical spaces. Around 1700, the declining power of religious authorities allowed German intellectuals to redefine civil society, starting with a new language of honor. Then, in the middle of the eighteenth century, an increasing number of voluntary associations and public spaces turned it into reality. Here, honor provided cohesion. In the nineteenth century, urbanization and industrialization ushered in powerful forces of atomization that civil society attempted to remedy. The remedy came from social and physical spaces that generated a culture of honor and emotional belonging. We find them in voluntary associations, spas, revived guilds, and labor unions. By the end of the nineteenth century, honor was deeply embedded in German civil society.

Contents:

Part 1 Honor in Eighteenth-Century Germany

1 Creating the Language of Civil Society: Honor and Emotions p. 21

2 Educating Honor for Civil Society p. 38

Part 2 Middle-Class Honor in the Long Nineteenth Century

3 Honor in Weimar p. 63

4 Redefining the Language: Honor, Civil Society, and Mutual Recognition p. 81

5 Spas: Space and Emotional Communities of Belonging p. 90

Part 3 Working-Class Honor in Imperial Germany

6 Spaces of Working-Class Honor p. 117

7 Strikes and Demonstrations: The Politics of Defiance p. 132.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-228) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472129171

0472129171

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.