# the Germans — The Acquisitive Society character guide

> the Germans in The Acquisitive Society by R. H. Tawney.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Their, their

**First appearance:** 0000-introductory

## Snapshot

Tawney's recurring foil: a shorthand for disciplined industrial might, invoked to shame English complacency and expose the private feudalism hiding inside capitalist enterprise.

## Who they are

In Tawney's argument, the Germans function less as a people than as a mirror — a collective example of organized industrial power that Englishmen cite to flatter themselves or to justify tightening control over their own workers. The tension they embody is between efficiency and freedom: the same concentrated authority that produces results abroad also produces the 'industrial feudalism' Tawney finds at home. They matter early because they let him puncture the vanity of Englishmen and show that the real question is not national character but the structure of industry itself.

## Relationships

### [Providence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters/providence)

_rivalry_

Providence and the Germans are locked in a fundamental ideological conflict over the moral and economic organization of society.

### [Bentham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters/bentham)

_psychological_

Bentham's ideas are linked to German thought as part of a critique of rationalist or statist philosophies.

### [Bacon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters/bacon)

_psychological_

Bacon's empirical philosophy is contrasted with German idealism or collectivism in the context of acquisitive society.

### [Bacon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters/bacon)

_psychological_

Bacon's empirical philosophy is contrasted with German idealism or collectivism in the context of acquisitive society.

## In the story

### [Introductory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/chapters/introductory)

Referenced as a 'more mentally adventurous nation' whose criticism Englishmen bear with equanimity.

### [The Acquisitive Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/chapters/the-acquisitive-society)

Referenced indirectly as part of the broader industrial civilization spreading to nations like Russia, Japan, India, and China.

### [Industry as a Profession](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/chapters/industry-as-a-profession)

Cited as an analogy: the position of owners who contribute nothing to production is compared to the Germans negotiating from Brussels—their presence is illegitimate and breeds resentment.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters/the_germans
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_acquisitive_society_se/characters