he calls full-blooded proletarians (Vollblutproletarier). References to their separa-
tion from nature, home, family, and fatherland rehearse standard conservative
arguments against modernity.The sameholds trueofhis diagnosis of the loss
of community found in villages and smalltownsthatends with the triumph of
the big city as the homeofthe modern masses. Sombart’ssomber view of mas-
sification finds expression in hisrepeateduse of the prefix“Ver-”as he denoun-
ces theVerrohung(brutalization) of public morals, theVerödung undVerkümmer-
ung (devastation and impoverishment) of the soul, and the Vernichtung
(destruction) of all existing social structures,forms, and conventions. Crudeness
of feelingsand baseness of drivesare the inevitable consequences.Under these
conditions,the proletarian soul finds emotional release onlyinpolitics, especial-
ly (though not exclusively)insocialism.
Sombart further elaborates on the close connection between the workers’
rootlessness and their politicalradicalism inSozialismus und sozialeBewegung
(1905,Socialism and Social Movement),acomprehensive overview of the inter-
national socialist movement,its national organizations and political factions.
Like manyofhis predecessors, he recognizes the social problems that gave
riseto the socialist movement and proposesareturn to the shared valuesrooted
in the narrativesofnation.Aware of the attractiveness of the socialist ethos of
unity and solidarity,hedescribes its transformation of true feelingsofcommun-
ity (Gemeinschaftsempfinden)intoadivisive and destructive class consciousness
as follows:
They [i.e., the members of this new class] find support onlyamongcomrades with the same
fatewho are also not treatedasindividuals but whonolonger belongtoany traditional
community.Hejoins them, he becomesacomrade, and that is howacrowdofcomrades
is born that values one thingaboveall others:not the uniqueness of the individual but of
the crowd, the belongingtothe masses.[...]Translated intopsychologicalterms, this results
in apowerful strengtheningofmass consciousness in each individual, andapromotion of
mass-specific emotions that grow in the fight for mass-specific demands. In the end, be-
longing to his class for the proletarian means the same as belongingtoanoble family,
clan, city,and stateonce meant for others;with pride the proletarian identifies with his
class:proletarius sum.“¹⁸Sombart’swritingsmust beread within the largerdebatesthatmade sociology
the academic discipline best suited for addressingthe culture and politics of
class in the earlytwentieth century.Therewaswide agreement alreadythen
on the profound influenceofMax Weber’sconceptual distinctionbetween es-
Werner Sombart,Sozialismus und soziale Bewegung(Jena: GustavFischer,1908), 11–12. Re-
published in 1924 as the two-volumeDer proletarische Sozialismusby GustavFischer inJena.
The Threatofthe Proletariat and the Discourse of the Masses 43