Literatura a bieda. O sile oddziaływania literackich konstrukcji wartości w świetle psychologii motywacji – na przykładzie powieści "Soll und Haben" Gustava Freytaga
Literature and poverty. The impact of literary constructions of values in the light of motivation psychology - on the example of the novel "Soll und Haben" by Gustav Freytag

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to examine the meaning of literary constructions of values in the context of fight against poverty. It is to be noted that the significance of the transmission of values is underscored especially by scholars who study the phenomenon of the inheritance of poverty. The article formulates the hypothesis that in the context studied, literature can take over the role of “transmitter of values”. In order to confirm this hypothesis, the findings of the American psychologist David McClelland in the field of motivation psychology were referred to and then developed in the analysis of the text of a 19th century German novel by Gustav Freytag titled “Soll und Haben”, followed by an examination of the history of the novel’s reception. The two threads of analysis, on the one hand, serve as proof of the real impact of literary constructions of values, while on the other hand reveal what values were advocated in novels from the period preceding Germany’s spectacular economic growth. The results of the analysis are assessed according to their applicability to strategies for fighting poverty.

• Details
• Contents