ABSTRACT
This chapter proffers two theses: a general and a comparative thesis. The general thesis is that the disruption of stable bourgeois identity makes possible the rise of modernism, which in turn further destabilizes bourgeois identity in a sort of virtuous circle. The chapter focuses on the comparative thesis which is that clues to the contours of various modernisms can be found in examining various types of bourgeois identities. It is divided into four parts. The first of these is devoted to systematic consideration of what modernism is. The central claim is that modernization is a process of differentiation of cultural spheres and of the cultural realm from the social realm. The second looks at Paris and Vienna, and largely drawing on Clark and Schorske, respectively, at the visual arts and the social structuring of urban space. The third examines the role of the state first. The fourth looks at the role of the Jews in modernist Berlin.
