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Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

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Friday 14 April 2023 11.00 - 13.00
J-10 ELI09b Urban Elites Emerging and Falling II
B44 (Z)
Networks: Elites and Forerunners , Urban Chair: Anna Soulsby
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Anna Cergol Paradiz, Irena Selišnik : Postwar Ljubljana: Elite Transformation after First World War
In our paper we will compare the position of prewar elite of Ljubljana before and after the
First World War. Before World War I, Ljubljana was the capital of the Austrian province of
Carniola and the Slovene cultural and national center. However, economically speaking, it
lagged behind other developed parts of the monarchy. ... (Show more)
In our paper we will compare the position of prewar elite of Ljubljana before and after the
First World War. Before World War I, Ljubljana was the capital of the Austrian province of
Carniola and the Slovene cultural and national center. However, economically speaking, it
lagged behind other developed parts of the monarchy. Its provincial, peripheral status and
slow pace of modernization was reflected also in the composition of its elite. According to a
list of taxpayers with crossectional analysis of several different quantitative data reveal that
Ljubljana's richest inhabitants from 1900 were mainly small “working proprietors”
(innkeepers, salesmen, craftsmen) and individuals that worked in the public sector
(government or municipal officials). At least a two thirds of them were strongly Slovene
nationally oriented, a third of them were German nationally oriented, while others were
probably more or less nationally indifferent (or we do not have data for determine their
national orientation). As Slovenes’ political and economic capital within the Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Ljubljana gained more prominence after the war. Moreover the
process of Slovenisation took over the city. The paper therefore addresses the question how
the position of its prewar elite was changed from the perspective of postwar years when such
changes of political system, national borders, social rights took place together with national
homogenization and migration. We will there for investigate which categories of elite
(administrational or economic) were most affected by postwar changes in central Europe, who
were people who migrated and if gender had any role to play in this decision? How social
mobility changed? Did prewar identification with Slovene or German nation movement
influenced thein decision of staying in Ljubljana? What happened with political orientation of
families in the city? We will try to answer these questions with an analysis of the
(longitudinal) development of the lives/situation of the families (people and their direct
decendats) from the »development of the situation of the prewar elite«. (Show less)

Zarko Lazarevic : National and International Business Networks in Interwar Yugoslavia
The aim of presentation is to discuss the initial results of ongoing research on business networks in interwar Yugoslavia between the continuities and discontinuities after the WW I. The establishment of new countries and national economies in Central Europe was huge challenge for already established business networks. They need to ... (Show more)
The aim of presentation is to discuss the initial results of ongoing research on business networks in interwar Yugoslavia between the continuities and discontinuities after the WW I. The establishment of new countries and national economies in Central Europe was huge challenge for already established business networks. They need to adapt to new economic and social reality. The process of adaptations and recreation of business networks will be presented in the context of political and economic reality of interwar period. Yugoslavia was a very heterogeneous country with considerable developmental differences. The ideas about the new state were completely dissimilar in different regions. The line of contrasts and oppositions ran from the northwest towards the southeast. The north?western regions were above the Yugoslav average, while the south?eastern regions were below it. Until the establishment of the Yugoslav state, development took place independently, since Slovenia, Croatia, Vojvodina as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy, while Serbia and Montenegro lived their own life as independent monarchies. Yugoslavia was formed as a relatively closed, protectionist market. Foreign competition was deterred by quite immoderate protective customs duties, which were supposed to provide an opportunity for the development of local entrepreneurship, especially in industry. The role of the state with its state-owned and semi?state industrial or banking companies was indispensable for this concept. State interventionism or the increased role of the state in the economy was strengthened in the 1930s, during and especially after the Great Depression. In the interwar period Yugoslavia was in the gradual process of establishing national economy. Anything else would be impossible to expect in a state which brought together such diverse territories with at least four different regulations of the economy. Actually this process continued until as late as World War II. Before World War II Yugoslavia was a collection of regional economies rather than an integrated economy. The level of economic cooperation between the regions was still very low.

Within this macro concept the presentation will emphasize the role of economic elites in continuation, creation and/or renewal of business networks in interwar Yugoslavia on national and international level.The presentation will be based on big data approach and social network analysis methods and tools.

The following research questions will be discussed:

Concept and methodology of research
Continuity and discontinuity of business networks in new state
Regional and trans regional business networks
Central institutions and personalities within Yugoslavia
Intersection of national and international business networks (Show less)

Maria Malatesta, Angelo di Francia : The Transnational Marriage of the Italian Nobility 1861-1943
This paper aims to study the family strategies of the Italian nobility during the Kingdom of Italy from the Unification to the fall of the Fascist regime. From this point of view, marriages will be considered as one of the most important reproduction instruments (tools) involving many cultural and social ... (Show more)
This paper aims to study the family strategies of the Italian nobility during the Kingdom of Italy from the Unification to the fall of the Fascist regime. From this point of view, marriages will be considered as one of the most important reproduction instruments (tools) involving many cultural and social effects. Marriages with foreign women (but also with foreign men) can be considered a fruitful research field first to investigate how Italian nobility preserved in the contemporary age its attitude of merging with foreign families so widespread in the early modern age; secondly the cultural implication along the generations.
This paper is based on a sample of 1,246 individuals who between 1861 and 1943 held the position of senator and/or diplomat. 62 held the double position of senator and diplomat, therefore our research will relate to 718 senators and 590 diplomats. In that period, 87% of the noble senators (out of 718 individuals) and 78% of the diplomats (out of 590) got married. Of those, 62,2% of the senators and 52,2% of the diplomats married a woman of noble extraction – in a first and/or second marriage. This data shows a homogamic tendency that allowed to remain in the long period a relatively closed elite.
In this perspective, transnational marriages hold a particular interest as they are a useful tool to understand first if the position of senator and diplomat involved different behaviours about the nationality of wives and were more or less to cross the national boundaries. Secondly, what marriage patterns were dominant at a transnational level: if they married noble or commoner foreign wives, and if their choices changed during the years. Thirdly, if there was also at the transnational level a relationship between rank and willingness to merge with transnational cultures. Fourthly, if the transnational marriages pattern has been transmissed from one generation to another: three generations will be considered to verify the existence of transnational heritage issue in the noble families. In noble transnational marriages the gender issue holds a great importance too, therefore this paper will consider the influence exercised by foreign women in the matrimonial choices of the descendents.
A special attention will be at the end dedicated to the marriages with American women. Transatlantic marriages spread among European nobilities since 1880th and they had flagrant dimensions in Great Britain but also in France. In Italy this phenomenon did not have dimensions comparable to the English one, but from the end of the XIXth century the curve of the marriages with American women started to rise and pursued until the Twenties. (Show less)

Sietske van der Veen : Novel Opportunities, Perpetual Barriers. The Integration of the Jewish Dutch Elite (1870-1940)
From the last decades of the nineteenth century until the German invasion, life in the Netherlands changed profoundly. In this period of transition, possibilities for social climbing came within reach of a substantial part of the Dutch population. This also involved members of the Jewish minority, who were provided with ... (Show more)
From the last decades of the nineteenth century until the German invasion, life in the Netherlands changed profoundly. In this period of transition, possibilities for social climbing came within reach of a substantial part of the Dutch population. This also involved members of the Jewish minority, who were provided with unprecedented prosperity and opportunities, and who increasingly integrated into Dutch society. At the same time however, they were confronted with a new, racist form of anti-Semitism that proved to be a serious impediment to their upward social mobility and integration.

This paper explores how Jewish members of the Dutch elite seized novel opportunities and dealt with challenges with regard to integration in the period between 1870 and 1940. To this end, the lives of more than seven hundred Jews whose personal histories were documented in the Dutch Biography Portal are studied. These people held or during their lives acquired a distinguished or influential status in society, whether it be within the Jewish communities, in Dutch society at large, or in both. They were affluent representatives of the haute bourgeoisie as well as successful industrialists, politicians, liberal professionals, intellectuals and artists. By looking at the occupational domains, educational levels and fields of study, places of residence in the Netherlands and elsewhere, religious affiliations, (inter)marriages and participation in associations of Dutch elite Jews, this paper tries to understand their patterns of integration into wider Dutch society in a fresh and comprehensive way.

The situation was certainly dynamic and complex. Integration into Dutch society did not naturally hold the promise of increased social standing, and ‘assimilation’, as it was termed at the time, certainly was not a desire held by all (aspiring) members of the Jewish Dutch elite. Conversely and perhaps even more importantly, higher positions in the social hierarchy did not automatically lead to extensive integration. This was particularly true for Dutch elite Jews, who despite their achieved position in general society with matching occupation, education and living opportunities, often remained loyal to their Jewish communities, marrying Jewish partners and supporting Jewish social and cultural causes. Above all, they were never fully accepted into the circles of their gentile counterparts. (Show less)



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