The anatomy of despondency : : European socio-cultural criticism, 1789 - 1939 / / by Jaap Harskamp.

• Superior document: Brill's studies in intellectual history ; v. 195
• Author: Harskamp, Jacob Teunis.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2011.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's studies in intellectual history ; v. 195; Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 195/8.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (887 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Socio-cultural criticism is the continuous assessment and evaluation of developments within democratic society and hence a vital ingredient of democracy itself. Departing from the French Revolution, this study focuses upon a tradition of European criticism. On the whole, critics accepted that technological advance was irreversible but they opposed the assumption that this implied general progress. Instead, they stressed the negatives: class conflict, erosion of tradition, mechanization of life, fragmentation of society, loss of cultural differentiation. The approach is exclusively text-orientated. The result is a multi-coloured mosaic depicting an image of what has moved, confused or dismayed the European mind over a period of a century and a half. The intensity of concern has shaped our contemporary thought, awareness and outlook.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- ASPECTS OF PHYSIOGNOMY -- DISINTEGRATION -- THE DEMOCRATIC WAY -- MAN AND MACHINERY -- MONEY AND COMMERCE -- IDEOLOGICAL CONFUSION -- ENDS AND MEANS -- THREATS TO THE INDIVIDUAL -- DEVITALIZATION -- PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS -- ART AND ALIENATION -- PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE -- EUROPE: DIVISIONS AND DILEMMAS -- BIOGRAPHICAL AUTHOR INDEX -- NAME INDEX.