Class boundaries

Class boundaries or class barriers are social differences marked by (non-transferable) clothing and customs that refer to the social origin . Particularly in relation to European society up to the French Revolution in 1789, it is common to speak of class boundaries. The class order prevented social mobility .

Especially in the history of literature , love across class boundaries or the mesalliance is an inexhaustible topic well into the 20th century, as in Arthur Schnitzler's comedy Comtesse Mizzi or The Family Day (1909). The legal disadvantage of the non-aristocratic partner in a morganatic marriage persisted in Europe until the end of the First World War.

Attempts to overcome

Overcoming the class boundaries in European history consisted in making the non-transferable privilege transferable through one's own work. B. to be able to acquire the aristocratic privilege of hunting by acquiring a hunting license .

With the triumphant advance of the minuet as a social dance for all classes, which the Sun King is said to have danced first, an initially symbolic overcoming of class boundaries began at the end of the 17th century. While clothing in the Middle Ages still signaled class affiliation, from the rococo dress fashion it became increasingly possible to wear clothes that could be afforded, even if they were reserved for a higher class.

De jure , the class boundaries were gradually dismantled in the 19th century ( citizenship , freedom of trade ). The courtesy , which was also made available to the money bourgeoisie and the officers, existed as a class limit until the First World War. From a statistical point of view, there are de facto limits, for example in an educational disadvantage (in Germany only 23 percent of non-academic children study compared to 86 percent of academic children).

literature

Arno J. Mayer, The Persistence of the Old Regime. Europe to the Great War , New York: Pantheon 1981. ISBN 0394511417