| The Salaried Masses: Duty and Distraction in Weimar Germany Contributor(s): Kracauer, Siegfried (Author), Hoare, Quintin (Translator) |
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ISBN: 1859841872 ISBN-13: 9781859841877 Publisher: Verso OUR PRICE: $18.95 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 1998 Annotation: Germany's Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966) provided a fascinating study--first published in 1930--of German society on the eve of Nazism. The focus of Kracauer's inquiry was the new class of salaried employees who populated the cities of Weimar Germany. Drawing on conversations, newspapers, ads and personal correspondence, Kracauer revealed a down-spiraling of culture which has sharp relevance for today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Germany - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 305.556 |
| LCCN: 98-30212 |
| Physical Information: 0.34" H x 5.49" W x 8.57" (0.39 lbs) 130 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Germany |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: First published in 1930, Siegfried Kracauer's work was greeted with great acclaim and soon attained the status of a classic. The object of his inquiry was the new class of salaried employees who populated the cities of Weimar Germany. Spiritually homeless, divorced from all custom and tradition, these white-collar workers sought refuge in entertainment--or the "distraction industries," as Kracauer put it--but, only three years later, were to flee into the arms of Adolf Hitler. Eschewing the instruments of traditional sociological scholarship, but without collapsing into mere journalistic reportage, Kracauer explores the contradictions of this caste. Drawing on conversations, newspapers, adverts and personal correspondence, he charts the bland horror of the everyday. In the process he succeeds in writing not just a prescient account of the declining days of the Weimar Republic, but also a path-breaking exercise in the sociology of culture which has sharp relevance for today. |