1st Edition

The Americanization/Westernization of Austria

By Anton Pelinka Copyright 2004
    326 Pages
    by Routledge

    450 Pages
    by Routledge

    Political, economic, social, and cultural modernization dramatically transformed twentieth-century Austria. Innovative new methods of production and management, such as the assembly line, changed Austrian business after World War I, much as the Marshall Plan shaped the economy after World War II. At the same time, jazz, Hollywood movies, television programming, and mass commodities were as popular in Austria as elsewhere in Western Europe. Even political campaigns followed American trends. All this occurred despite the fact that in West Germany, American nostrums and models had been rejected, modified, or "translated" into milder versions. Ultimately, Austria was "Western Europeanized" when it joined the European Union in 1995. How Western are the Austrians? This volume analyzes trends toward Americanization and Westernization in Austria throughout the twentieth century. Reinhold Wagnleitner's lead essay studies the foreign politics of American pop culture.

    Anna Schober and Monika Bernold analyze the influence of Hollywood movies and television on postwar Austrian society. Reinhard Sieder follows changing discourses on family life, while Ingrid Bauer looks at American influences on Austrian women. Maria-Regina Kecht, Kurt Drexel, and Christina Hainzl follow the American impact on Austrian literature, opera, and art. Banker Anton Fink examines American banking and finance practices. Andre Pfoertner and Matthias Fuchs study the Americanization of Austrian business and tourism. Helmut Lackner describes how well-heeled Austrian travelers to the United States brought back innovative American production methods and other ideas gleaned from world expositions before World War I. American influences on Austrian politics and political science are dissected by Gunter Bischof, Martin Kofler, Fritz Plasser, and Anton Pelinka. The Americanization of Vienna is the subject of journalist Armin Thurnher's essay. Comparisons with West Germany are presented by Michael Hochgeschwender. These essays prove that "Americanization," "Westernization," and "globalization" need to be carefully defined before generalizations can be made.

    Introduction; Austria in McWorld; Section I: Setting the Stage; I'm Made for America from Head to Toe ( The Project for a New American Century ); The Americanization of Vienna; Section II: Business/Finance; Travel Accounts from the United States and their Influence on Taylorism, Fordism and Productivity in Austria; The Americanization of Austrian Business; The Impact of U.S. Management on Austrian Management Cultures in Tourism; The Americanization of Austrian Banking and Finance; Section III: Culture; American Jazz in Ernst Krenek's opera Jonny spielt auf; Belonging to a Never - Never Land? Television and Consumer Modernity in Postwar Austria; Hollywood Movies, Significant Events and the Alteration of Styles and Worldviews; American Painting: The New York Museum of Modern Art's International Program in Austria; Wo ist Daheim?—America in Narrative Identity Constructions of Contemporary Austrian Literature; Section IV: Society/Gender; Americanizing / Westernizing Austrian Women: Three Scenarios from the 1950s to the 1970s; From Patriarchy to New Fatherhood? Private Life and the Process of Modernization in Twentieth-Century Austria; Section V: Politics/Political Culture; Austria's Postwar Occupation, the Marshall Plan, and Secret Rearmament as Westernizing Agents 1945-1968; The Impact of American Scholarship on Austrian Political Science: The Making of a Discipline; Assessing the Americanization of Austrian Politics and Politicians; Review Essays; The Ancient Hatred: Postwar Austrian Anti-Semitism; A Homely Picture Book?; The Westernization of Austria; Unmastered Pasts: Czechs, Sudeten Germans and Austrians; Book Reviews; Holger Afflerbach, Der Dreibund: Europäische Grossmacht-und Allianzpolitik vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2002); Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth (Munich: Piper, 2002); Stefan Moritz, Gruß Gott und Heil Hitler: Katholische Kirche und Nationalsozialismus in Österreich (Vienna: Picus Verlag, 2002); Erwin A. Schmidl, ed., Die Ungarnkrise 1956 und Österreich: Mit einem Vorwort von Paul Lendvai (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2003): Csaba Békés, Malcolm Byrne, and János M. Rainer, eds., The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents (Budapest: CEU Press, 2003); Annual Review; Survey of Austrian politics 2002

    Biography

    Anton Pelinka