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Friday 14 April 2023 08.30 - 10.30
J-9 ELI09a Urban Elites Emerging and Falling I
B44 (Z)
Networks: Elites and Forerunners , Urban Chair: Adam Howard
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Martin Åberg : Root Threads of Modern Individualism: Moravianism, Social Trust, and the Emerging Middle Classes in Sweden, ca 1760-1840
Individualistic ideals, values and practices typical to modernity have multifaceted origins. As far as Europe and the Western world is concerned, however, most scholars agree that early modern society – in itself an ambiguous term – and the emergence of capitalism was somehow a crucial phase in the development of ... (Show more)
Individualistic ideals, values and practices typical to modernity have multifaceted origins. As far as Europe and the Western world is concerned, however, most scholars agree that early modern society – in itself an ambiguous term – and the emergence of capitalism was somehow a crucial phase in the development of modern individualism. In this paper I explore one of the many expressions of modern individualism in Nordic and, specifically Swedish context, during the 1760-1840 period. Focus is on the Moravian revivalist movement, the peculiar ego documents (‘Lebensläufe) collected among its followers, and how these autobiographies, albeit in a stylized manner, define and bring to life a range of individualistic ideals easily recognizable as ‘modern’. Traditionally, historical research on modernity and modern individualism tend towards a narrow focus on economic ideas, values, and practices among emerging business elites. Modern individualism as embodied in the culture and practice of the 19th century middle class, though, encompassed many more aspects of life, particularly when gender differentiation is considered. Drawing on a recently digitalized set of sixty Swedish Lebensläufe (*) from the late 18th century and early 19th century, I discuss the transfer of individualistic life ideals from an innately religious setting to the 19th century middle classes. The main argument is that the adaptation of ideals of the kind represented by Moravian women and men had wider social ramifications: New ideals centered on individualism and agency helped alter the conditions for formation of ‘social trust’ and, hence, provided new conditions for elite behavior, including gender specific expressions. By way of conclusion, the individualistic ideals outlined in the paper were not specific to Moravianism; but the unique features of the Moravian awakening as such, including its usage of Lebensläufe, allows structured and systematic analysis in a manner that is unusual considering the formation of elite ideals, values and practices at the crossroads between early modern society and modernity. (*An absolute majority of the digitalized material relate geographically to what is today’s Sweden but, considering the period, some Finnish examples are included in the data set as well.) (Show less)

Andrea Bergaz Alvarez : Self-promotional Strategies of a Transnational Agent at the Service of the Hispanic Monarchy: the 3rd Marquis of Los Balbases (1670-1679)
The so-called New Biographical History has undergone a remarkable development in recent years that has shed light on the possibilities offered by the biographical perspective to approach the economic, political, social and cultural dynamics of a given period. Following this historiographical current, and based on different archival sources, this paper ... (Show more)
The so-called New Biographical History has undergone a remarkable development in recent years that has shed light on the possibilities offered by the biographical perspective to approach the economic, political, social and cultural dynamics of a given period. Following this historiographical current, and based on different archival sources, this paper aims to analyze the self-promotion work carried out by Pablo Spínola Doria (c. 1632-1699) during his diplomatic period (1670-1679). This nobleman, grandson of Ambrosio Spínola and since 1659 3rd marquis of Los Balbases –a family with a nobili vecchi origin–, was one of the most prominent members of the Spanish-Genoese elite at the service of the Spanish king Charles II (1665-1700). Thus, I follow a transnational perspective that the study of these type of individuals requires, and an interdisciplinary approach. I draw on concepts from Foucault’s theory –soft power, soft coercion–, from Bourdieu’s sociology, or from the field of cultural psychology, among others. Cultural patronage –specifically the musical-theatrical one– played, in fact, a major role in the progress of the marquis’s cursus honorum. Hence, its analysis appears to be a very useful means of approaching his socio-political strategies, revealing several key elements of the action of this type of transnational elites, such as the importance of their economic capital in the development of their patronage, or the enormous political possibilities of their cosmopolitanism in the design of their cultural strategies.
I believe this is a relevant and appropriate case study, not only because Pablo Spínola is example of the kind of transnational, cosmopolitan and highly cultured elite at the service of the Hispanic Monarchy, but also because the socio-cultural practices and uses developed by Balbases are representative of a certain way of making politics and diplomacy in the second half of the 17th century, as well as of the nobiliary identity that was forging since the beginning of that century. (Show less)

Radu Nedici : Reverend Canons vs. Venerable Archdeacons: Latin Honorifics, Organizational Practices and Elite Dynamics in the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania, c. 1750–1800
During the second half of the eighteenth century the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania acquired not only a distinct confessional identity that merged Latin dogma with Byzantine rite but also a more elaborate institutional organization. This latter process entailed a reshaping of its ecclesiastical elites, given the canons of the ... (Show more)
During the second half of the eighteenth century the Greek Catholic Church in Transylvania acquired not only a distinct confessional identity that merged Latin dogma with Byzantine rite but also a more elaborate institutional organization. This latter process entailed a reshaping of its ecclesiastical elites, given the canons of the cathedral chapter in Blaj gradually replaced the archpriests and the synod as the main collegiate body who assisted the bishop in the everyday running of the diocese. Although the inherent tensions surfaced time and again until at least the turn of the century, historians have generally neglected the evidence, focusing rather on the equally relevant conflict between the bishop and the Basilian monks from among whom the canons were recruited.
Set in the tradition of the Eastern Christianity but subject to a Catholic monarch and in full communion with Rome, the Greek Catholic Church offered a fertile ground for the transposition of objects and ideas from the West. My paper seeks to inquire on the role played by such imports in the competition between the new and the old elites. Language and words appear to have been instrumental in setting them apart and in signalling the social ambitions of the rising elite. By borrowing the Latin honorific 'Reverendissimus', the canons fashioned for themselves an upper tier in the hierarchy, one step above that of the archpriests. At the same time, the use of the Latin term 'archidiaconus' demoted its bearers, the protopopes, from the authority induced by the Slavonic appellation and shaped for them a subordinate position modelled on the hierarchy common of the Roman Catholic Church. Petru Maior’s defence of the archpriests’ rights in his 'Protopopadichia' (1795) proves that the linguistic transformation had been fully acknowledged as detrimental for the traditional elite and had induced the latter to take a theoretical position against innovations brought forward by the canons of the cathedral chapter. Owing to several other related initiatives of reform, however, this reaction came too late to make a difference, as the archpriests eventually succumbed to the impetus of the rival group. (Show less)

Jose Miguel Sanjuan, Joana Pujades-Mora : The Long Fall from the Skies. Evidences from Downward Mobility on Barcelona Elites during the XVIII and XIX Century
This paper aims to contribute to the measurement and identification of the mechanisms through which social mobility and wealth transmission behave among the top 1% well-off groups during the first industrial revolution. Our study has focused on the destiny of the sisters and brothers of the heirs of the wealthiest ... (Show more)
This paper aims to contribute to the measurement and identification of the mechanisms through which social mobility and wealth transmission behave among the top 1% well-off groups during the first industrial revolution. Our study has focused on the destiny of the sisters and brothers of the heirs of the wealthiest families of Barcelona along 1750 and 1900. From the list of major contributors, we have identified their marriages and the ones of the siblings following the evolution of a total of 150 individuals. The identification of the elites’ members come through an analysis of the major taxpayers of the city, while marriages have been identified using record linkage of the marriage censes compiled in the unique Barcelona Historical Marriage Database. We conclude that, with the exception of the extremely big fortunes (namely those among 0,1% of the wealth distribution) that could afford a distribution of the fortune between their sons, after two or three generations, a significant part of the heirs was outside the economic elites. (Show less)



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