Bürgerlichkeit im 18. Jahrhundert

Bürgerlichkeit and Bürger are central concepts in (German) literary history. The emancipation of the Bürgertum (bourgeoisie/middle classes) in the modern age has in fact been identified as the prime source of the profound cultural and socio-structural changes taking place in the 18th century. However, close scrutiny of the historical circumstances has split up the apparently close-knit concept of the Bürger into a diversity of semantic and socio-structural components that appear to be anything but unified. Accordingly, traditional models operative in literary history and sociology need to be thoroughly reviewed and revised.