Servants of Culture: Paternalism, Policing, and Identity Politics in Vienna, 1700-1914

In nineteenth-century Cisleithanian Austria, poor working-class women migrated to urban areas for menial or unskilled labor jobs, leading to the policing and surveillance of a previously gender-neutral career. Servants of Culture explores how paternalistic and maternalistic assumptions and anxieties shaped restrictive gender and class hierarchies in the Habsburg Empire.

Format: Hardback
Length: 366 pages
Publication date: 12 May 2023
Publisher: Berghahn Books

In the 19th century, a significant wave of poor, working-class women from rural areas in Cisleithanian Austria embarked on a mass migration to urban centers in search of menial or unskilled labor jobs. This migration was driven by legal provisions within the Habsburg Empire that aimed to regulate and control women's work. These provisions transformed what had previously been a gender-neutral career into one dominated by thousands of female rural migrants.

Servants of Culture, a groundbreaking work by historians, delves into the history of Habsburg servant law since the 18th century. It uncovers the paternalistic and maternalistic assumptions and anxieties that shaped the interests of socio-political players in improving the living and working conditions of the poor. However, these well-intentioned efforts resulted in practices that created restrictive gender and class hierarchies.

Through a pioneering analysis of the agendas of medical experts, police, socialists, feminists, legal reformers, and even serial killers, this volume offers a neglected history of the state of domestic service discourse at the turn of the 19th century. It sheds light on how this discourse shaped and continues to shape the surveillance of women in society.

The book explores the various factors that contributed to the rise of domestic service as a profession for women in the 19th century. It examines the economic and social pressures that pushed women from rural areas to seek employment in urban centers, as well as the legal and social barriers that prevented them from accessing better opportunities.

Furthermore, Servants of Culture delves into the experiences of these women who were subjected to intense surveillance and control in their workplaces. The book highlights the ways in which medical experts, police, and social reformers used their authority to regulate and control women's behavior, often with the goal of preventing sexual misconduct and maintaining social order.

The volume also explores the feminist movements that emerged in response to the oppressive conditions faced by domestic servants. It examines the ways in which feminists sought to challenge the gender and class hierarchies that existed in the domestic service industry and advocate for women's rights and equality.

Servants of Culture provides a valuable insight into the complex history of gender, class, and surveillance in 19th-century Austria. It challenges the traditional narratives that have marginalized the experiences of poor, working-class women and sheds light on the ways in which they shaped and continue to shape our understanding of gender roles and social hierarchies.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800739932