The impact of industrialization on the dissemination of socio-political ideas in the German empire in the 19th century

The article presents a discussion of scholars, public and political figures of Germany in the 18-19th centuries on the necessity of social reforms, which had began with the French Revolution in 1789. Special attention is paid to the process of industrialization, which certainly should be regarded as a modernization. At the same time, modernization processes have always been closely connected with sociocultural transformations. Social trends in Germany marked a qualitatively new stage in the socio-political and socio-economic development of this country and its regions. This stage was connected with the formation and further successful functioning of such a new state system as a ‘social state’. Meanwhile, the industrial revolution and urbanisation in the German Empire caused a sharp increase in the working class that was economically, legally and socially insecure. All these factors led to industrial revolutions. According to the author, the bloody events of 1848-1849 made the representatives of intelligentsia, including conservative circles, understand the inevitability of social changes and led to the development of the concepts of gradual and non-violent change of political and social relations. The article analyzes works of W. von Humboldt, J. G. Fichte, A. Müller, L. von Stein, K. I. Rodbertus-Jagetzow, etc.