Beschavingsoffensief (civilising offensive): from sociological concept to moral appeal

Abstract

This article discusses the history of the concept beschavingsoffensief (civilising offensive) in the Netherlands. Introduced in 1979, the concept was developed by sociologists, anthropologists and historians in the 1980s to analyse nineteenth century bourgeois initiatives to civilise the lower classes. Starting as a value-neutral social-scientific concept, the term got popularised in Dutch public discourse since the 1990s. It was used as a moral exhortation to ward off presumed social ills in the public sphere, like impoliteness and rudeness, vandalism and hooliganism. Its use in the public press shows that the concept has become part of a discourse on moral decline, a widespread feeling that the manners and behaviour in society are deteriorating.