The Historical Context: Europe’s Gaze Across the Atlantic

When Karl Marx penned his famous observation in Das Kapital (1867) that industrialized nations reveal the future of less developed ones, he was describing Britain’s influence on continental Europe. Yet by 1906, German economist Werner Sombart declared that the United States had become the true harbinger of Europe’s destiny. This shift reflected a profound transformation in transatlantic perceptions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Europeans—particularly intellectuals, politicians, and social reformers—increasingly viewed America as a “modern laboratory,” where the ideals of the Enlightenment were being tested with unprecedented vigor. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835) had already captured European imaginations with its portrayal of egalitarianism and social mobility. By 1900, the U.S. embodied both the promises and perils of industrial capitalism, democracy, and cultural modernity.

Key Observations: What Europeans Saw in America

### 1. Egalitarianism Without Class Consciousness
Despite stark economic inequalities—often more pronounced than in Europe—Americans lacked the rigid class divisions that defined European societies. As Johann Plenge noted in 1912, the bourgeois worldview in America had become a “universal national consciousness,” unburdened by aristocratic hierarchies or entrenched proletarian revolt.

### 2. Religion and Secularization
Unlike in Europe, where the working class often rejected organized religion, American workers remained devout. The strict separation of church and state, rooted in colonial history, paradoxically strengthened religious participation. This fascinated European observers, who saw it as a counterpoint to their own secularizing trends.

### 3. Social Mobility and the “Self-Made Man”
French philosopher Émile Boutmy marveled at the American belief that “everyone’s destiny lies in their own hands.” The absence of hereditary privilege and the cult of individualism made the U.S. a land of perceived limitless opportunity—a stark contrast to Europe’s ossified social structures.

### 4. Materialism and Mass Culture
Conservative Europeans, like a German officer named Korff, dismissed America as a crassly materialistic society obsessed with wealth. The rise of skyscrapers, consumer culture, and standardized entertainment (e.g., vaudeville, early cinema) seemed to confirm fears of a “soulless” modernity. Sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies contrasted Europe’s organic Gemeinschaft (community) with America’s mechanistic Gesellschaft (society).

### 5. The State’s Limited Role
Europeans were accustomed to centralized governance, from Bismarck’s welfare state to France’s bureaucratic elite. America’s weak federal apparatus, patronage-based politics (“spoils system”), and reliance on voluntary associations struck them as anarchic—or refreshingly libertarian.

Cultural and Philosophical Divergences

### Pragmatism vs. Idealism
While American thinkers like William James and John Dewey championed pragmatism—valuing ideas based on their practical outcomes—Europe grappled with Nietzsche’s existentialism and Bergson’s vitalism. The U.S. embraced trial-and-error progress; Europe oscillated between revolutionary fervor and cultural pessimism.

### The “Woman Question”
American women’s rights movements, dating back to Seneca Falls (1848), inspired European feminists. Yet progress was uneven: Finland granted female suffrage in 1906, while Switzerland waited until 1971. The transatlantic dialogue on gender equality highlighted tensions between radical demands and incremental reform.

### Labor Movements and Socialism
Europe’s socialist parties, particularly Germany’s SPD, debated whether to emulate America’s decentralized unionism or pursue revolutionary change. The Second International’s 1904 resolution against “revisionism” reflected anxieties that reformist pragmatism might dilute Marxist principles.

Legacy: America as a Contested Model

By 1914, the U.S. was both admired and feared. Its technological prowess (e.g., Ford’s assembly line) and democratic ethos inspired reformers, while its racial segregation, corporate monopolies, and cultural homogenization served as cautionary tales.

### Enduring Questions
– Globalization’s Forerunner: America’s mass production and consumer culture prefigured 20th-century globalization.
– The Paradox of Freedom: Tocqueville’s warning about the “tyranny of the majority” resonated as nativism and inequality persisted.
– The European Counter-Narrative: Figures like Freud, Einstein, and the Bauhaus proved modernity could also emerge from Europe’s “semi-absolutist” states.

In the end, Sombart’s framing of America as Europe’s future was prescient—but incomplete. The transatlantic exchange of ideas, critiques, and anxieties shaped not just two continents, but the modern world itself.

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