Das Zeitalter der Intelligenz

the long version

Summary Instead of suggesting a new concept of the »intelligentsia«, the book traces its development and reconstructs the identities of its members between nationalist claims and universalistic cosmopolitanism. Concentrating on France, Germany, Poland and Russia, the author argues that the transformation of the intelligentsia as a major social stratum largely reflects the development of European society. In the last resort, the erosion and collapse of the intelligentsia gave way to the rise of the middle classes, which shaped Europe’s social development from the late nineteenth century onwards.