Modern Class Society in the Making: Evidence from Palatinate Gravestones of the Nineteenth Century

This study of nineteenth century gravestones of the Palatinate confirms sociocultural transformations, along the dimensions of social identity and ideological convictions, from rank society to a capitalist class society. Moreover, the sampled gravestones reveal the family as a decisive unit of social identity, with a simultaneous withdrawal into the private sphere. These findings contradict the usual historic narrative of that period and region and suggest a politically withdrawn, passive and disillusioned society that offered little, if any, opposition to an authoritarian state, as long as economic opportunities provided a chance for social ascent.