Polgárok, nemesek vagy jászok? Egy századfordulós polgár identitásának elemei : In memoriam Pozsonyi Zoltán (1976–2008) = Citizen, nobleman of Jász? Puzzles of the identity of a turn-of-century self made man

Katona, Csaba (2024) Polgárok, nemesek vagy jászok? Egy századfordulós polgár identitásának elemei : In memoriam Pozsonyi Zoltán (1976–2008) = Citizen, nobleman of Jász? Puzzles of the identity of a turn-of-century self made man. In: A rang kötelez : Rendi és rendies magatartásformák a középkortól a 20. századig. Eszterházy Károly Katolikus Egyetem Líceum Kiadó, Eger, pp. 157-176.

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Abstract

With the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the modern Hungarian state was born, but its society was still divided, as centuries-old legacies were impossible to dismantle quickly. The clashes between old and new societal values were therefore part of everyday life, as well as the redefinition and reinterpretation of identities. The present paper presents a case study in which several layers of personal identity were superimposed, namely a particular combination of bourgeois, noble and jász identity. In the paper we discuss the attitudes concerning nobility of two men, of te same family, rooted in the Jászság region, who were both successfull self made men. In 1905, one of them, Elemér Móczár, attempted (successfully) to acquire the nobility, which was already worthless, while the other, Lajos Móczár, presumably relying on his more important Jász identity, refused to accept it. Thus the identity concepts of both of them were influneced by the traditions of the past centuries. In a broader context, the case highlights the duality of Hungarian society at the turn of the century, which was rapidly moderninsing but still carrying the burden of feudal heritage, when a noble title without any real legal privileges, a sign of the traditional elite, was still of value to a man pursuing a civil career, while the identity of his relative would be significantly eroded by the same ‚privilege’.

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