ABSTRACT
The 1920s conjure up images of the Charleston, bobbed hair, motoring and the frenetic gaiety between two horrific wars. In Vienna, however, this short-lived era of international peace was disturbed by domestic economic and political turmoil. The appreciation of Hugo Bettauer as a radical resulted from his giving voice to the terrible plight of women and young people. His writings decried the repressiveness of the political culture. Social injustices, especially when pointed out in newspapers and novels with a mass circulation, catch the public imagination, arouse indignation, awaken latent discontent and can eventually have an effect on the course of history. Taking the descriptive and interpretive approach to political culture rather than the quantitative one enables to highlight the trends towards intolerance and violence which, in the Bettauer case, manifested them in the realm of culture even before they entered the realm of politics.
