Social question

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The term social question describes the social grievances that went hand in hand with the modern European population explosion and the industrial revolution , that is, the social problems accompanying and following the transition from an agricultural to an urbanized industrial society . In England this transition started around 1760 and in Germany in the early 19th century. Long before that, the dramatic misery of large sections of the population emerged. The first phase in Germany comprised around the first half of the 19th century. It was shaped by a rapidly growing population that created a wage-working proletariat , peasant liberation , rural exodus and urbanization , the decline of the old trade and the gradual rise of the factory industry.

The core problems of the social question were pauperism and the insecurity of the existence of peasants, rural servants , artisans , workers and small clerks .

In the course of time the problems shifted. Between the 1850s and the 1870s, industry experienced a strong boom, while the decline of the home trade and the crisis of the handicrafts continued. A third phase in Germany was marked by high industrialization and the transition to an industrial society from around 1870 . The social question now became primarily the workers question . Mass emigration from the countryside to the urban industrial centers, side effects of the formation of large cities and the social integration of industrial workers occupied the politically responsible as well as the bourgeois public . Depending on the perception of the problem and interests, different approaches to solving the social question were developed.

term

The term “social question” originated from around 1830 and initially describes the impoverishment that arises with population and urban growth, then with the surplus of journeyman workers (hence Wilhelm Weitling's “craft boy communism ” ) and the working conditions of early industrialization (12-hour Day, child and women's labor) related conflicts . The social crisis was felt in many ways: malnutrition and early infirmity , the collapse of small businesses (courtyards, retail trade, handicrafts), housing shortages in the growing cities, strong internal migration, new forms of crime .

First of all, the term is used in German-language literature as a translation of the French question sociale in order to describe the social situation in other countries in Western Europe. The first evidence can be found in Heinrich Heine's correspondence from Paris , which appeared in Augsburg on April 30, 1840 . In socio-political writings and studies on the situation in Germany, the term only gained a prominent, programmatic meaning around 1848. The term is also mentioned in party programs such as the Eisenacher program (1869) of the Social Democratic Workers 'Party or the Gothaer program (1875) of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (later the SPD ).

Origin and characteristics

The social question arose from the plight of economically weak social groups. The main causes included accelerating population growth and the consequences of peasant liberation and freedom of trade .

The majority of the population still living in the countryside grew unusually rapidly in Europe after 1815. Reasons for this could lie in the pan-European global warming, which made safer harvests possible from the 1780s onwards. Medical and hygienic advances contributed to population growth, e.g. B. the introduction of the smallpox vaccination by Edward Jenner in 1796 and improved surgical training, as it was first introduced for military surgery under I. Napoleon . In addition, an intensive pro-natalistic population policy was practiced from the mercantilist era in order to compensate for the population losses caused by the medieval plague waves.

The liberation of the peasants through the abolition of manorial rule forced the farmers to pay for old compulsory labor , which often took the form of land ceding. The now personally freed farmers remained on uneconomically small farms, fell into debt and were bought out of their property through the so-called peasant laying . The abolition of compulsory guilds in the handicrafts, in connection with the emigration from the country, led to an increase in the number of journeymen and - with falling wages in the handicrafts and rising unemployment - to the so-called handicraft boy misery.

Increasing problem pressure

Significant social poverty and attempts to alleviate it, especially on a church and communal basis, existed before the term “social question” came into use. The new forms and the after-effects of the French Revolution , which was disturbing to the monarchical systems of rule and the churches, encouraged the tendency for the increasing poverty of broad sections of the population to be addressed accordingly in public opinion and in old and new branches of science ( jurisprudence , economics , sociology ).

The explosive nature of the social question arose from the fact that social change was perceived as completely new and radical . The European late feudal agrarian society with commercial and commercial capitalist cities as supraregional markets ( Max Weber ) turned into a capitalist - first mercantilist , then industrial - society (see industrial revolution ).

The gradual dissolution of traditional social communities such as the extended family or the bond with the landlord also tore the traditionally tightly interwoven social networks . The rural exodus, which caused an oversupply of labor in the cities, depressed the wage level there, so that several members of a family had to look for wage work ; The women and children who forced their way onto the labor market further lowered wages, working hours of 12 and more hours per day as well as night and Sunday work were enforced; Little attention was paid to health (chronic poisoning, silicosis ) and occupational accident prevention. The working conditions and living conditions of the wage workers had all the features of impoverishment : miserable living conditions in bugged tenements , often only one room per family, the beds also occupied by sleepers during the day . Under such circumstances, family life was exposed to unprecedented strains and tended to dissolve with the consequence of personal isolation, brutalization of morals, lack of schools, prostitution , including child prostitution, and the formation of gangs, resulting in a complex of health problems ( tuberculosis , sexually transmitted diseases , " English disease ") vitamin deficiency, scabies , lice, drunkenness ) and decreasing life expectancy.

working conditions

Iron rolling mill , painting by Adolph von Menzel (1872–1875)

The supply of labor from the influx of surplus agricultural workers and inferior craftsmen in the industrial competition meant that entrepreneurs were able to produce in some cases with wages close to the subsistence level and achieved a relative wealth that is still unachieved to this day.

The working conditions were difficult and there was strict work discipline. Workers who rebelled or were unable to work could be replaced by new rural refugees due to a lack of effective labor market legislation. In English industrial cities, the average working life until "incapacity for work" was around 15 years. The average age of industrial workers in Manchester was just 18 years. The wages could be reduced by half a day's wages if they were ten minutes late. Wage deductions could also be imposed in the event of faulty work or tool breakage. It was also common to extend the daily working hours (up to 18 hours), no Sunday rest, inadequate or lack of occupational safety (transmission belts on steam engines were a major source of danger). There was also no pension , accident insurance or protection against arbitrariness by superiors, such as B. Protection against dismissal .

At that time the legislature knew little or no regulatory framework for the labor market (see also Manchester capitalism ). Domestically, the police and the military primarily served to maintain public order, poor people rebelled and hunger demonstrations were often brutally suppressed and led to injuries, deaths and the imprisonment and execution of the leaders.

Women’s and child labor

Eleonorenhain glassworks in Bohemia (1890): Child labor when registering

The workers often did not earn enough to support their families. Especially in families with many children (still traditionally) , women and children also had to take on contract work. Women worked from home instead of in the publishing system as they used to be , as well as in the important textile industry. Women were very popular with employers because they were more knowledgeable about precision mechanics and very psychologically resilient and could therefore work more intensively and longer; but above all they were cheaper because their wages were well below those of the male workers.

The child labor exists in the rural family economy in living memory, but with industrialization took the 18th and 19th century Europe and the United States proportions that affected the health and education of workers' children massively. Children were also used in underground mining , as they were smaller and could therefore extract coal or ore more effectively than adults from narrow seams in the face and narrow tunnels. In England children worked underground for up to 64 hours a week in summer and 52 hours in winter. In weaving mills ( cotton mills ) even 80 hours per week were common.

Child Labor in Newberry, South Carolina (1908)

In 1833, the first law to protect children was passed in England: children under nine were banned from working in textile factories, night work and a maximum of 12 hours a day for young people under 18 years of age. About ten years later, underground work was banned for children (minimum age: ten years) and women. Similar laws were passed soon after in Germany and Austria (prohibition of work for children under twelve). In 1839 Prussia therefore issued a “ regulation ” that banned children under ten from working in factories, as well as a Sunday and night work ban for 10 to 16 year olds. In 1853 the minimum age for factory work was raised to twelve years (nine years plus three years of compulsory schooling). To enforce the law that was factory inspection introduced. However, there was still no legal protection for children in handicrafts, trades and especially in agriculture. Although children had to work almost as much as an adult, they only got about a tenth of the average wage of a man.

Housing situation

A working-class family lived in Hamburg in 1902

As the cities grew, so did the housing shortage. It formed slums , makeshift neighborhoods with no connection to the municipal infrastructure and tenements . It was also common to share a bed with a sleeper in shifts . The housing shortage was unparalleled in today's industrialized nations, up to 10 people lived on 14 m². There was a lack of water and sewage pipes in the slums (there was only one toilet for more than a hundred people). Later, more massive, multi-storey tenements were built for the workers (“ Schnitterkasernen ” in the country). There was water and a toilet for everyone in the hallway. Until the Bauhaus , the apartments of the industrial revolution had little light ( Berlin rooms ) and were often damp due to their construction with inner courtyards . The housing shortage resulted in high rental expenses for workers, which accounted for up to three quarters of their wages.

Possible solutions

Various social and political organizations and parties formed anew to solve the social question: the cooperative movement , the labor movement , the organizations of the churches based on the principles of Christian social teaching , the newly founded trade unions and new political parties.

In addition, the legislature gradually passed numerous laws and ordinances and founded new executives to enforce them , which ultimately resulted in the extensive social legislation of today's industrialized nations.

The pressing problems led to a diverse social mobilization and politicization, which, depending on the social interests and point of view, produced different approaches. So u. a. peasant, civic and church initiatives, then also ( early ) socialist and Marxist movements as well as those responsible in the state and science.

Social groups

In addition to modern cooperatives and z. In the Catholic Kolping Federation , for example , workers' associations and trade unions developed , followed by parties as the political representatives of the interests of the exploited wage workers (in the German Reich, among others, the SPD ). From the point of view of the labor movement , the social question resulted from the class antagonism between capital owners ( bourgeoisie ) and wage earners ( proletariat ).

Some of the companies that employed wage workers on a large scale tried to improve their situation by providing them with cheap apartments (factory housing ), sometimes also setting up company medical services and raising wages somewhat.

The women's movement, which grew at the same time (equalization of wages, the fight against prostitution ), and after 1900 also the youth movement (turning from gray city walls to nature) were answers to the social question, each with its own strategy of combating the problem.

State reform policy

The state social policy of the German Reich tried to defuse these conflicts through social reforms . The first concrete solutions can be found in Otto von Bismarck's social legislation , which began with the Health Insurance Act in 1883, then also introduced accident insurance (1884) and old-age and disability insurance (1889), which became the statutory pension insurance in 1891 . This socio-political approach was soon adopted and varied by other countries.

In a comment from a historical point of view it says: "Bismarck's social legislation represents a positive solution to the social question. Bismarck recognizes the core problem: the insecurity of the worker's existence." The social reforms continued under Kaiser Wilhelm II helped to defuse the social misery and promoted a better social and political positioning of the social lower classes in the German Reich, but did not, as Bismarck had aimed at, alienate the workers in favor of the monarchy of the workers' movement.

Sciences

In the field of science, economics (cf. Catholic Socialism ) and social medicine primarily turned to the problem area. As the first German sociologist, Ferdinand Tönnies wrote a treatise on it in 1907 with his work The Social Question .

Catholic Church

In 1891 Pope Leo XIII themed . in his encyclical Rerum Novarum the social upheavals and grievances and named solutions for his part.

In the encyclical Quadragesimo anno of May 15, 1931 Pope Pius XI raised , commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the encyclical Rerum Novarum , highlighted the importance of the principle of subsidiarity and pushed for comprehensive social reforms in line with Catholic social teaching .

In his Pentecost message in 1941 (on the social question), Pope Pius XII remembered . to the core demands of the encyclical Rerum Novarum and urged all people and nations to look for solutions as quickly as possible.

Shift in meaning

Towards the end of the 19th century the meaning of the term social question expanded. It was replaced by broader terms such as social policy or social reform .

The expansion of the welfare state and the increase in the general level of prosperity ( economic miracle ) after 1950 contributed significantly to the fact that the social question as a worker question was forgotten as a term in the second half of the 20th century, at least in the industrialized countries. In the second half of the 1970s, an attempt was made to redefine social policy in Germany. The term “ new social question ” was coined, but it was not able to establish itself permanently in political parlance.

At the beginning of the 21st century, however, the sociologists Robert Castel and Klaus Dörre see the relevance of a new social question: It is formulated by the emergence of a precariousness from the return of social insecurities as a result of atypical employment relationships such as temporary workers .

See also

literature

Source editions

Monographs

  • Günter Brakelmann : The social question of the 19th century. 5th, unchanged. Edition. Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1975, ISBN 3-7858-0042-8 .
  • Rüdiger vom Bruch (Ed.): Neither communism nor capitalism. Civil social reform in Germany . Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30882-1 .
  • Wolfram Fischer : Poverty in History: Manifestations and Attempts at Solving the “Social Question” in Europe since the Middle Ages. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, ISBN 3-525-33465-6 .
  • Wolfram Fischer, Georg Bajor (ed.): The social question. Recent studies on the situation of factory workers in the early phases of industrialization . Koehler, Stuttgart 1967.
  • Wilfried Gottschalch u. a .: History of social ideas in Germany. Olzog, Munich 1969.
  • Eckart Pankoke : Social movement, social question, social politics: basic questions of German “social science” in the 19th century. Klett, Stuttgart 1970.
  • Eckart Pankoke: The work question . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-518-11538-3 .
  • Gerhard A. Ritter : Social question and social policy in Germany since the beginning of the 19th century. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1998, ISBN 3-8100-2193-8 .
  • Karl Josef Rivinius (Ed.): The social movement in Germany of the nineteenth century . Inter Nationes, Bonn-Bad Godesberg / Moos, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7879-0105-1 .
  • Ferdinand Tönnies : The development of the social question up to the world war. Unchangeable Reprint d. 4th, verb. Edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-11-012238-3 .

Essays

  • Regina Görner : The German Catholics and the Social Question in the 19th Century. In: Günther Rüther (Ed.): History of the Christian-Democratic and Christian-Social Movement in Germany. Part I, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 1984, ISBN 3-923423-20-9 , pp. 145–198.
  • Oskar Stillich : The solution of the social question through the reform of inheritance law . (= Culture and time issues. Issue 16). Ernst Oldenburg Verlag, Leipzig 1924.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See for example the social history 1848 to 1880 : Society in transition: industrial revolution
  2. ↑ On the history of the term see: Karl Hohmann, Horst Friedrich Wünsche: Basic texts on the social market economy. Volume II: The social in the social market economy. P. 103 ff. With further references (Ed .: Ludwig-Erhard-Stiftung eV )
  3. ↑ Cf. Eckart Pankoke : Social movement, social question, social politics. , Stuttgart 1970, p. 49, footnote 1.
  4. ↑ See, for example, K. Biedermann: Lectures on socialism and social questions. Leipzig 1847 (quoted in Pankoke, p. 49, footnote 2).
  5. ↑ G. Heinsohn, R. Knieper, O. Steiger: "Human production. General population theory of the modern age". Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1979.
  6. ↑ Bruno Huhnt: Industrial Revolution and Industrial Age . P. 73, with reference to Otto von Bismarck's remarks on the justification of his socio-political legislation , speeches in the German Reichstag on March 15 and 20, 1884; Ed .: Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, 1966.
  7. ^ Bavarian State Library, Digital Library - Munich Digitization Center (MDZ), Reichstag protocols, Volume 082, 5th legislative period, 4th session 1884, 9th session on Thursday, March 20, 1884 (start of the session, p. 133), speech Otto von Bismarck, p . 161 ff., P. 165.
    also available from the Berlin State Library: (online)
  8. ^ The development of the social question up to the World War. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1982, introduction: Cornelius Bickel .
  9. ↑ a b Pope Leo XIII: Encyclical RERUM NOVARUM (1891) ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) or
  10. ^ Pentecost Message 1941, Pope Pius XII. for the fiftieth anniversary of the circular Rerum novarum Pope Leo XIII. about the social question. (Pentecost Sunday, June 1, 1941) ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) or
  11. ↑ Cf. Gerhard A. Ritter: Social question and social policy in Germany since the beginning of the 19th century. Opladen 1998, p. 4.
  12. ↑ See New Social Question. In: Lexicon of the Federal Agency for Civic Education . from: Klaus Schubert, Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon. 4th, updated Edition. Dietz, Bonn 2006.
  13. ↑ Cf. Heiner Geißler : The New Social Question. Analyzes and documents . Herder Verlag, 1976, ISBN 3-451-07566-0 .
  14. ↑ Cf. The Brockhaus Infothek: The social question. ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the web archive archive.today ) Bibliographisches Institut & FA Brockhaus AG.
  15. ↑ Robert Castel, Klaus Dörre (ed.): Prekarität, Abstieg, Exclusion. The social question at the beginning of the 21st century. Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009, pp. 11–18.