The Politics of Ethnic Survival

by Cohen, Gary B.

• ISBN13: 9781557534040
• ISBN10: 1557534047
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-06
• Publisher: Purdue Univ Pr

Summary

This book examines how one of Imperial Austria's principal ethnic conflicts, that between Czechs and Germans, developed in one of the major cities during the era of industrialization and urban growth. It shows how the inhabitants of Prague, the capital of Bohemia, constructed and articulated ethnic group loyalties and social solidarities over the course of the nineteenth century.

Author Biography

Gary B. Cohen was educated at the University of Southern California and Princeton University. He was a member of the University of Oklahoma history faculty from 1976-2001, where he taught a range of courses on modern European social and political history and East-Central Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In August 2001, he became director of the Center of Austrian Studies, executive editor for The Austrian History Yearbook, and professor of history at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Table of Contents

Maps, Tables, and Plates	vii
A Note on Place Names and Czech References	xi
Preface to the Second Edition	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Abbreviations	xvii
Introduction	1	(17)
Chapter One: From Bohemians to Czechs and Germans	18	(23)
Group Loyalties in Prague before 1848	18	(5)
The Impetus for Change: The Czech National Movement and the Revolution of 1848	23	(5)
The Revival of Bohemian Society under the Bach Absolutism	28	(3)
The Beginnings of Ethnic Division	31	(5)
The End of Absolutism and the Transformation of Bohemian Society	36	(5)
Chapter Two: A German Community Emerges, 1861-1879	41	(24)
Voluntary Associations in Central European Society	42	(4)
The Era of Liberal Dominance in Bohemian German Politics	46	(3)
The Creation of German Community Life in Prague	49	(7)
The Class Limits of the German Community	56	(2)
Jews in the German Community	58	(7)
Chapter Three: The Demographic Realities	65	(40)
The Census and the Question of Nationality	66	(3)
The Dimensions of Decline	69	(6)
Attrition by Assimilation	75	(8)
The Occupational Profile of the German Minority	83	(10)
Czech-German Relations in Daily Life	93	(12)
Chapter Four: Defense of the Liberal Community	105	(32)
The End of German Liberal Dominance in Austria and Bohemia	106	(3)
New Czech Initiatives in Local Government	109	(3)
The German Liberal Response: Retreat and Regrouping	112	(2)
The Völkisch Movement in the Bohemian Borderlands	114	(2)
The Liberal Perspective on the New Era in Prague	116	(2)
Ethnic Defense and the Liberal Associational Network	118	(4)
Liberal Community Politics in the Era of Ethnic Defense	122	(3)
The Survival of German Middle-Class Society, 1879-1897	125	(5)
Community Defense and the Status of the German Jews	130	(7)
Chapter Five: The German Lower Strata, 1883-1897	137	(33)
The Handworkers' Society and the Tactics of Co-optation	138	(4)
The Seedbed of Völkisch Opposition	142	(4)
Völkisch Dissidents in the Gymnastics Society	146	(4)
The Völkisch Outcasts	150	(4)
Support for the Völkisch Movement: Students and Lower-Strata Residents	154	(4)
The Liberal Tactics of Containment and Isolation	158	(1)
Ethnic Defense in Religious Affairs	159	(11)
Chapter Six: The Decline of Liberal Society, 1897-1914	170	(31)
A New Era of National Conflict	172	(6)
German Nationalist and Social Democratic Opponents	178	(7)
Community Defense in the Post-Liberal Era	185	(7)
In Search of a New Political Order	192	(9)
Conclusion: Ethnic Identity, Group Solidarity, and Historical Change	201	(10)
Appendix I: Statistical Procedures	211	(4)
Appendix II: Supplementary Tables	215	(10)
Notes	225	(62)
Sources	287	(38)
Index	325