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A Demonic Chrysalis: the Concept of Bourgeoisie in Poland
Subtitle:Acta Poloniae Historica T. 122 (2020) ; History of Socio-Political Concepts in Poland From the Eighteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century
Creator: Institutional creator:Polska Akademia Nauk. Komitet Nauk Historycznych ; Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla
Contributor:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Publisher: Place of publishing: Date issued/created: Description: Subject and Keywords:bourgeoisie ; mieszczaństwo ; philistinism ; patriciate ; plutocracy ; middle class ; Marxism ; avant-garde ; middle class - Poland - history
Abstract:This paper investigates the history of the concept of bourgeoisie in Poland, emphasising troubles with its assimilation into the Polish language, and its special entanglement with the socialist and modernist discourse. The concept, it is argued, was borrowed in the late nineteenth century from France, where it concerned the urban upper-middle class; it arrived in Poland as part of the socialist discourse of the time, which gave it strong negative and derogatory connotations. The ambiguity that arose was further complicated by a number of other factors as well. First, the understanding of the term ‘bourgeoisie’ within the leftist discourse was itself ambivalent, combining the strictly theoretical definition encompassing the class of capitalist owners of the means of production, and the practical and emotional label attached to the urban classes. Second, also for the reasons indicated above, the concept of bourgeoisie was not able to replace the older Polish concepts regarding the urban population [mieszczaństwo], and the differences between them remained vague, and occasionally disputable. Third, not only did the term ‘bourgeoisie’ never fully emancipate itself from the domination of the indigenous concepts, but it also suffered from its translation into Polish, where it was regularly omitted when regarding Western European realities, but where it was a permanent fixture in the case of Russian and Soviet literature. Finally, the paper searches for the reasons behind the relative elimination of the concept from the Polish discourse, or at least large segments thereof, in the last half-century.
References:
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Acta Poloniae Historica ; Acta Poloniae Historica
Volume: Start page: End page: Resource type: Detailed Resource Type: Format: Resource Identifier:0001-6829 ; 2450-8462 ; 10.12775/APH.2020.122.04
Source:IH PAN, sygn. A.295/122 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/122 ; click here to follow the link
Language: Rights:Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license
Terms of use:Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -
Digitizing institution:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Original in:Library of the Institute of History PAS
Projects co-financed by:National Programme for the Development of the Humanities
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