Ambiguities of the Domestic Civilizing Mission: Technocratic Elites and Social Engineering in Interwar Europe

Boris Barth

Jump to Content

Ambiguities of the Domestic Civilizing Mission: Technocratic Elites and Social Engineering in Interwar Europe

in Civilizing Missions in the Twentieth Century

Autor:in:

Boris Barth

Boris Barth
Search for other papers by Boris Barth in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Art:: Kapitel

Seiten:: 90–108

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004438125_005

Über Institut einloggen

Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):

42,00 €35,00 € excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Token einlösen

This article deals with several varieties of the civilizing mission in the interwar years of the 20th century. As a result of World War I, in all European countries technocratic elites reached powerful positions in the respective bureaucracies and started programs to – as they defined it – improve their populations. Planning and social engineering, often combined with social Darwinist concepts, became part of utopian designs for the improvement of societies. All these ideas had in common that they gave up the individualist and liberal ideas of the 19th century. Many programs were independent of regime type, even if the realization of technocratic utopias was easier in the Soviet Union or in fascist dictatorships than in democracies. Typical was also an ongoing global exchange of ideas across ideological boundaries despite highly nationalist rhetoric. The article deals with attempts to improve the organization of labor and workforces both in the “West” and in the Soviet Union. It goes on to describe newly developed forms of population control and population exchange, which climaxed in the infamous Treaty of Lausanne. The final section analyzes the international eugenics movement, comprising intellectual and political elites who claimed to represent the spearhead of progress. The main problem with these programs was the lack of democratic or parliamentary control. However, it is impossible to write the history of the welfare state without taking these technocratic visions into account.

Zitierungsangaben

Save
Cite
Inhalt per Mail versenden

Link teilen

Sie können einen Link zu dieser Seite per E-Mail senden:
Inhalt per Mail versenden
oder den Link direkt kopieren:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004438125/BP000004.xml
Der Link wurde nicht kopiert. Ihr aktueller Browser unterstützt das Kopieren über diese Schaltfläche möglicherweise nicht.

Link wurde kopiert

Reduzieren
Erweitern
Nach oben

Civilizing Missions in the Twentieth Century

Reihe: Studies in Global Social History, Band: 40

ISBN:: 9789004438125

Verleger:: Brill

Print-Publikationsdatum:: 01 Sep 2020

Fachgebiete

Front Matter

Back Matter

Kennzahlen

	Insgesamt	Letzte 365 Tage	In den letzten 30 Tagen
Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen	2118	323	24
Gesamttextansichten	37	4	0
PDF-Downloads	20	6	1

Afrikanistik	Internationale Beziehungen	Nahost- und Islamwissenschaften
Altorientalistik und Ägyptologie	Internationales Recht	Pädagogik
Amerikanistik	Judaistik	Philosophie
Asienwissenschaften	Klassische Altertumswissenschaft	Religionswissenschaft
Bibelauslegung	Kunstgeschichte	Slawistik und Eurasienkunde
Biologie	Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften	Sozialwissenschaften
Biowissenschaften	Medienwissenschaft	Sprachen und Linguistik
Buchgeschichte und Kartographie	Menschenrechte und humanitäres Völkerrecht	Theologie und Christentum
Geschichte	Musikwissenschaft

Fachgebiete

Autor:innen

Open Access

Produkt-Informationen

Über uns

Kontakt

Ambiguities of the Domestic Civilizing Mission: Technocratic Elites and Social Engineering in Interwar Europe

Zitierungsangaben

Link teilen

Civilizing Missions in the Twentieth Century

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Kennzahlen

Kennzahlen