This proper Philadelphia story starts with the city's golden age at
the close of the eighteenth century. It is a classic study of an
American business aristocracy of colonial stock with Protestant
affiliations as well as an analysis of how fabulously wealthy
nineteenth-century family founders in Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia, supported various exclusive institutions that in the
course of the twentieth century produced a national upper-class way
of life. But as that way of life became an end of itself, instead
of an effort to consolidate power and control, the upper-class
outlived its function; this, argues Baltzell, is precisely what
took place in the Philadelphia class system. Philadelphia Gentlemen
emphasizes that class is largely a matter of family, whereas an
elite is largely a matter of individual achievement. The emphasis
in Philadelphia on old classes, in contrast to the emphasis in New
York and Boston on individual achievement and elite striving, helps
to explain the dramatically different outcomes of ruling class
domination in major centers of the Eastern Establishment. In
emphasizing class membership or family prestige, the dynamics of
industrial and urban life passed by rather than through
Philadelphia. As a result in the race for urban preeminence,
Philadelphia lost precious time and eventually lost the struggle
for ruling preeminence as such. When the book initially appeared,
it was hailed by The New York Times as "a very, very important
book." Writing in the pages of the American Sociological Review,
Seymour Martin Lipset noted that "Philadelphia Gentlemen says
important things about class and power in America, and says them in
ways that will interest and fascinate both sociologists and
laymen." And in the American Historical Review, Baltzell's book was
identified simply as "a gold mine of information." In short, for
sociologists, historians, and those concerned with issues of
culture and the economy, this is indeed a classic of modern social
science.
General
Imprint: |
Routledge
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
September 2017 |
First published: |
1989 |
Authors: |
Roger L. Geiger
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152mm (L x W) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
476 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-138-52979-3 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
1-138-52979-6 |
Barcode: |
9781138529793 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!