Andreas Gestrich - Böcker

Poverty in Modern Europe explores the spatial dimensions of poverty in nineteenth and twentieth-century Europe. Its essays focus on a variety of regional, local, and institutional settings and apply different approaches and methods, such as micro history, historical geography, network analysis, and the study of political and academic expert discourses. They are grouped into four sections. The first concentrates on the question of how it was that within the same national legal framework, poverty could be administered and experienced so differently at regional and local levels. Although the discussion of 'welfare regionalism' has been accepted as an important perspective in both the social sciences and social history, it has not resulted in many comparative studies or produced a valid framework for comparisons. The following three sections ask how urban and rural spaces of poverty were constructed by political, academic, and administrative discourses and how 'localities' of poor relief were experienced by the poor. Many essays look into the spatial dimensions of processes of inclusion and exclusion. They examine the role played by institutions (such as workhouses) and by social networks (such as families and neighbourhoods), and are particularly interested in what has frequently, albeit not uncontroversially, been termed the 'agency' of the poor and its spatial dimensions. The volume tests different approaches in different countries and suggests a number of aspects and yardsticks to consider when comparing regional or local differences. While the main geographical focus is on English-speaking and German-speaking Europe, the volume also contains comparative perspectives on France and Russia.

The Hanoverian succession of 1714 brought about a 123-year union between Britain and the German electorate of Hanover, ushering in a distinct new period in British history. Under the four Georges and William IV Britain became arguably the most powerful nation in the world with a growing colonial Empire, a muscular economy and an effervescent artistic, social and scientific culture. And yet history has not tended to be kind to the Hanoverians, frequently portraying them as petty-minded and boring monarchs presiding over a dull and inconsequential court, merely the puppets of parliament and powerful ministers. In order both to explain and to challenge such a paradox, this collection looks afresh at the Georgian monarchs and their role, influence and legacy within Britain, Hanover and beyond. Concentrating on the self-representation and the perception of the Hanoverians in their various dominions, each chapter shines new light on important topics: from rivalling concepts of monarchical legitimacy and court culture during the eighteenth century to the multi-confessional set-up of the British composite monarchy and the role of social groups such as the military, the Anglican Church and the aristocracy in defining and challenging the political order. As a result, the volume uncovers a clearly defined new style of Hanoverian kingship, one that emphasized the Protestantism of the dynasty, laid great store by rational government in close collaboration with traditional political powers, embraced army and navy to an unheard of extent and projected this image to audiences on the British Isles, in the German territories and in the colonies alike. Three hundred years after the succession of the first Hanoverian king, an intriguing new perspective of a dynasty emerges, challenging long held assumptions and prejudices.

The strife for social improvement that arose in the decades around the turn of the 20th century raised the issue of social conformity in new ways: how were citizens who did not adhere to the rules to be dealt with? This edited collection opens new perspectives on the history of the emerging welfare state by focusing on its margins.

This title explores the experiences of the sick poor in modern Europe via an analysis of pauper narratives. This book provides a genuinely pan-European analysis of pauper narratives, focusing on the experiences of the sick poor in England, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales. The contributions highlight the value of pauper narratives for exploring the agency, rhetoric and experiences of the poor and sick poor, significantly enhancing our understanding of the ways in which national and regional welfare systems operated. By foregrounding the particular experiences and strategies of the sick poor, this volume helps to establish and understand the central sentiments of the relief system and the core experiences of those under its care. What emerges is a demonstration that how a relief system treated its sick poor and how those sick poor were able to navigate the system tells us more about welfare history than analysis of any other group.

The Hanoverian succession of 1714 brought about a 123-year union between Britain and the German electorate of Hanover, ushering in a distinct new period in British history. Under the four Georges and William IV Britain became arguably the most powerful nation in the world with a growing colonial Empire, a muscular economy and an effervescent artistic, social and scientific culture. And yet history has not tended to be kind to the Hanoverians, frequently portraying them as petty-minded and boring monarchs presiding over a dull and inconsequential court, merely the puppets of parliament and powerful ministers. In order both to explain and to challenge such a paradox, this collection looks afresh at the Georgian monarchs and their role, influence and legacy within Britain, Hanover and beyond. Concentrating on the self-representation and the perception of the Hanoverians in their various dominions, each chapter shines new light on important topics: from rivalling concepts of monarchical legitimacy and court culture during the eighteenth century to the multi-confessional set-up of the British composite monarchy and the role of social groups such as the military, the Anglican Church and the aristocracy in defining and challenging the political order. As a result, the volume uncovers a clearly defined new style of Hanoverian kingship, one that emphasized the Protestantism of the dynasty, laid great store by rational government in close collaboration with traditional political powers, embraced army and navy to an unheard of extent and projected this image to audiences on the British Isles, in the German territories and in the colonies alike. Three hundred years after the succession of the first Hanoverian king, an intriguing new perspective of a dynasty emerges, challenging long held assumptions and prejudices.

Contains the first ten books from the Economic and Social History series.

Contains the first ten books from the series.

In Zeiten, in denen Deutschland Ziel für Einwanderung und Flucht aus allen Teilen der Welt ist, erscheint es sinnvoll, sich daran zu erinnern, dass dieses Land über Jahrhunderte primär ein Auswanderungsgebiet war und die Geschichte vieler Deutscher bis in die jüngste Vergangenheit von Emigration, Flucht und Exil geprägt war.Die im vorliegenden Band gebotenen Aufsätze beschreiben den Umgang unterschiedlicher Typen evangelischer Auslandsgemeinden mit den politischen und gesellschaftlichen Krisen und Brüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts in ihrem deutschen Herkunftsland und ihren Gastländern. Im Fokus stehen die Jahre nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg, der Nationalsozialismus, der Zweite Weltkrieg und schließlich die Zeit nach 1945. Es zeigt sich, dass evangelische Auslandsgemeinden im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts ihr Verhältnis zum deutschen Herkunftsland und zur evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland immer wieder neu definieren mussten.Mit dem Thema „Auslandsgemeinden“ erschließt sich die kirchliche Zeitgeschichtsforschung ein interessantes, an aktuelle migrations- und globalgeschichtliche Fragestellungen anschlussfähiges Forschungsfeld.

This collection presents research results of the Collaborative Research Centre 600 ‘Strangers and Poor People. Changing Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion from Classical Antiquity to the Present Day’ at Trier University. It deals with central problems of social inclusion in societies of Europe and the Mediterranean World since Antiquity. The articles assembled here explore fundamental dimensions of the self-concepts of societies and social groups. From the perspectives of different disciplines, as History, History of Law, Literature Studies and Social Sciences, they focus on five main research areas: theoretical concepts of inclusion and exclusion, rights of membership and the inclusion of strangers in political spaces, religious dimensions of poor relief from the Middle Ages up into the twentieth Century, poor law and politics of poverty and the semantics of inclusion and exclusion.