Social Conservatism and the Middle Class in Germany, 1914-1933

Book excerpt: Uprooted by the war, exposed to the full brunt of economic dislocation, and fearful of losing status in face of the growing might of big business and organized labor, the middle classes in Weimar Germany longed for a solution to their plight that neither the capitalism nor the socialism of their day could offer. This work examines the attempts of a number of scholars and publicists—Sombart, Salin, Spann, Niekisch, Spengler, and Fried-to provide such a solution in the form of an ideology of social conservatism. Originally published in 1969. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.