Politikens drivfjäder : Frihetstidens partiberättelser och den moralpolitiska logiken
(2016)- Abstract
- This thesis examines the moral conflict permeating the politics of Sweden’s Age of Liberty around 1740 – a conflict that also structured the politics of the time in relation to a particular political logic based on moral. This logic was based on the absolute and normatively immutable nature of the social order, but also on a number of deep pre-modern experiences and expectations of man as unable to overcome his corrupt nature. This logic structured the political polemics through a metanarrative of how the citizens, who had been entrusted to maintain and defend the fragile moral social order, over time came to be morally corrupted; resulting in them instead starting to tear down said order. The moral of the narrative was that those citizens... (More)
- This thesis examines the moral conflict permeating the politics of Sweden’s Age of Liberty around 1740 – a conflict that also structured the politics of the time in relation to a particular political logic based on moral. This logic was based on the absolute and normatively immutable nature of the social order, but also on a number of deep pre-modern experiences and expectations of man as unable to overcome his corrupt nature. This logic structured the political polemics through a metanarrative of how the citizens, who had been entrusted to maintain and defend the fragile moral social order, over time came to be morally corrupted; resulting in them instead starting to tear down said order. The moral of the narrative was that those citizens still virtuous must identify, reintegrate and, if necessary, oust the immoral ones, before they themselves were corrupted and before the order was completely torn apart. This logic led to the politics of the time being characterized by mistrust, concerns regarding dissimulation and a high level of conflict. The two party narratives studied in this thesis, using a method of narrative analysis, represent two versions of this metanarrative. In connection to Reinhart Koselleck, I argue that this political logic based on moral must be understood as distinctly pre-modern and fundamentally different from modern politics, which was instead structured in relation to various competing social visions. The analysis shows that the party narratives were periodized in a pre-modern, circular and past manner. The thesis is a contribution to three different fields of research studying the early modern period: citizenship and virtue; views on mankind and society, with a particular focus on Lutheran and republican notions; the party politics and politicization of the Age of Liberty. A variety of different kinds of materials (e.g., handwritten pamphlets, libels, parliamentary speeches, sermons, newspapers) are examined in the thesis. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Denna avhandling studerar den moraliska konfliktlinje som genomsyrade den frihetstida politiken åren kring 1740 och som strukturerade politiken enligt en särskilt moralpolitisk logik. Logiken hade sin grund i dels samhällsordningens absoluta och normativt oföränderliga karaktär, dels ett antal djupa förmoderna erfarenheter av och förväntningar på människan som oförmögen att hantera sin fördärvade natur. Logiken strukturerade den politiska polemiken genom en metaberättelse om hur medborgarna, vilka hade fått till uppgift att upprätthålla och försvara den sköra moraliska samhällsordningen, över tid kom att korrumperas moraliskt så att de istället började förstöra nämnda ordning. Berättelsens sensmoral var att de ännu dygdiga medborgarna... (More)
- Denna avhandling studerar den moraliska konfliktlinje som genomsyrade den frihetstida politiken åren kring 1740 och som strukturerade politiken enligt en särskilt moralpolitisk logik. Logiken hade sin grund i dels samhällsordningens absoluta och normativt oföränderliga karaktär, dels ett antal djupa förmoderna erfarenheter av och förväntningar på människan som oförmögen att hantera sin fördärvade natur. Logiken strukturerade den politiska polemiken genom en metaberättelse om hur medborgarna, vilka hade fått till uppgift att upprätthålla och försvara den sköra moraliska samhällsordningen, över tid kom att korrumperas moraliskt så att de istället började förstöra nämnda ordning. Berättelsens sensmoral var att de ännu dygdiga medborgarna måste identifiera, återintegrera och om nödvändigt fördriva de omoraliska, innan de själva korrumperades och innan ordningen helt rämnade. Denna logik fick politiken att präglas av misstro, oro för förställning och en hög konfliktnivå. De båda partiberättelser som avhandlingen med en berättelseanalytisk metod har studerat representerade två variationer av denna metaberättelse. Jag argumenterar i anslutning till Reinhart Koselleck för att denna moralpolitiska logik måste förstås som särpräglat förmodern och grundläggande annorlunda med en modern politik som istället strukturerades i förhållande till olika konkurrerande samhällsvisioner. Analysen visar att partiberättelserna periodiserades på ett förmodernt, cykliskt och förgånget sätt. Avhandlingen är ett bidrag till tre olika tidigmoderna forskningsfält: medborgerlighet och dygd; människo- och samhällssyn, särskilt med fokus på lutherska och republikanska föreställningar; frihetstidens partipolitik och politisering. Avhandlingen undersöker en mängd olika materialtyper (till exempel handskrivna pamfletter, libels, riksdagstal, predikningar, tidningar). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1ed818c7-00da-4a82-9f71-af37544554a8
- author
- BODENSTEN, ERIK LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Sennefelt, Karin, Stockholms universitet
- organization
- alternative title
- The Mainspring of Politics : Party Narratives and the Logic of Moral Politics in the Age of Liberty
- publishing date
- 2016-04-29
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- medborgare, dygd, korruption, förställning, 1700-tal, Koselleck, luthersk, moral, narration, pamflett, partipolitik, förmodern, offentlighet, republikanism, frihetstiden, temporalisering, citizenship, civic virtue, corruption, dissimulation, Koselleck, eighteenth-century, lutheran, moral, narrative, pamphlets, party politics, pre-modern, public sphere, republicanism, Age of Liberty, temporalization
- pages
- 399 pages
- publisher
- Lund University (Media-Tryck)
- defense location
- Sal C126, LUX, Helgonavägen, Lund
- defense date
- 2016-05-27 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-87833-74-8
- 978-91-87833-73-1
- project
- The Mainspring of Politics: Party Narratives and the Logic of Moral Politics in the Age of Liberty
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1ed818c7-00da-4a82-9f71-af37544554a8
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-29 12:44:48
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:23:15
@phdthesis{1ed818c7-00da-4a82-9f71-af37544554a8,
abstract = {{This thesis examines the moral conflict permeating the politics of Sweden’s Age of Liberty around 1740 – a conflict that also structured the politics of the time in relation to a particular political logic based on moral. This logic was based on the absolute and normatively immutable nature of the social order, but also on a number of deep pre-modern experiences and expectations of man as unable to overcome his corrupt nature. This logic structured the political polemics through a metanarrative of how the citizens, who had been entrusted to maintain and defend the fragile moral social order, over time came to be morally corrupted; resulting in them instead starting to tear down said order. The moral of the narrative was that those citizens still virtuous must identify, reintegrate and, if necessary, oust the immoral ones, before they themselves were corrupted and before the order was completely torn apart. This logic led to the politics of the time being characterized by mistrust, concerns regarding dissimulation and a high level of conflict. The two party narratives studied in this thesis, using a method of narrative analysis, represent two versions of this metanarrative. In connection to Reinhart Koselleck, I argue that this political logic based on moral must be understood as distinctly pre-modern and fundamentally different from modern politics, which was instead structured in relation to various competing social visions. The analysis shows that the party narratives were periodized in a pre-modern, circular and past manner. The thesis is a contribution to three different fields of research studying the early modern period: citizenship and virtue; views on mankind and society, with a particular focus on Lutheran and republican notions; the party politics and politicization of the Age of Liberty. A variety of different kinds of materials (e.g., handwritten pamphlets, libels, parliamentary speeches, sermons, newspapers) are examined in the thesis.}},
author = {{BODENSTEN, ERIK}},
isbn = {{978-91-87833-74-8}},
keywords = {{medborgare; dygd; korruption; förställning; 1700-tal; Koselleck; luthersk; moral; narration; pamflett; partipolitik; förmodern; offentlighet; republikanism; frihetstiden; temporalisering; citizenship; civic virtue; corruption; dissimulation; Koselleck; eighteenth-century; lutheran; moral; narrative; pamphlets; party politics; pre-modern; public sphere; republicanism; Age of Liberty; temporalization}},
language = {{swe}},
month = {{04}},
publisher = {{Lund University (Media-Tryck)}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Politikens drivfjäder : Frihetstidens partiberättelser och den moralpolitiska logiken}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/7543561/Politikens_drivfj_der_Erik_Bodensten.pdf}},
year = {{2016}},
}