Morale

Esprit de corps [ ko ː a̯ɡaɪ̯st ] or esprit de corps (French corps, body ( company) ', from Latin corpus, body ') is a formation of the " we-feeling " of an ingroup.

Definition

The term derives from the French esprit de corps, the first conceptually neutral refers to a community of persons of the same object. A historical definition can be found in the Brockhaus from 1911, which writes that esprit de corps " the most active participation of each individual in the community the benefit of all, including setting aside all selfish - personal considerations ".

From esprit de corps is called by today's definition, if an emotional community arises within an objectively definable social group, which outwardly uniform and acting in solidarity with each other and thereby promotes personal ties beyond the purely social level also.

In the negative sense, this term often " snobbery " associated.

History

Even the medieval order of knights were characterized by the esprit de corps, led by uniform clothing, religious signs, banners and seal. More importance was the esprit de corps in the early modern period in the Prussian army, developed an aristocratic officers as members of a supposedly exclusive layer a " Esprit de Corps " with its own code of conduct and uniform ranking independent clothing. This behavior was observed in the 19th century at German universities and the student societies. The German jurist Ernst Wichert wrote:

" At the universities proliferated the esprit de corps and gradually inoculated Also the Fraternities one who did not want to appear inferior"

Currently, the esprit de corps is predominantly in military affairs, to meet at the police, but also in politics. Also the cohesion of the Catholic clergy to the outside world can be described with this term. From the United States of America, the esprit de corps is also drawn into the European economy and is viewed as a tool of modern management and employee motivation. As an example, the company Wal- Mart, where the employees at the beginning of each day, shouting slogans and support this through gestures such as the so-called Squiggly applies.