Popular Culture and the Public Sphere in the Rhineland, 1800–1850

A study of the politicisation of 'ordinary people' in western Germany in the 1850s.

James M. Brophy (Author)

9780521847698, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 August 2007

384 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.75 kg

'The study, deeply embedded in the many appropriate strands of scholarship and painstaking archival research, is divided into six substantive and mesmerizing chapters. …The author rounds out the book with absorbing chapters on the roles of singing, carnival, tumult, and religion. …An eminently readable treat for most German and many European historians …' The Historian

The age of revolution challenged the ancien régime's political world, introducing Europeans to fresh ideals of citizenship. German society was no less affected. Following the Napoleonic era, a political culture of partisan choice undermined the official restoration of absolutism. Bourgeois and popular classes took part in the political landscape of civil society, producing an impressive social base for participatory politics by the 1830s. Because of severe restrictions on speech and assembly, ordinary Germans formed political opinions in irregular ways. This book looks at the sites and forms of culture that facilitated political communication. With chapters devoted to reading, singing, public space, carnival, violence and religion, James Brophy argues that popular culture played a critical role in linking ordinary Rhinelanders to the public sphere. Moving beyond conventional explanations of opinion formation, he exposes the broad cultural infrastructure that enabled popular classes to join the political nation.

Introduction: popular culture and the public sphere
1. Reading
2. Singing
3. Public space
4. Carnival
5. Tumult
6. Religion
Conclusion: joining the political nation
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]