Based on examples from Vienna and Berlin this article analyzes representations of so-called “folks types” in the 19th and 20th centuries. Focusing on media and performative representations of characteristic social and cultural figures in terms of their construction principles and their historical and political contexts the author asks: How are ostensibly “authentic” types produced by interlocking techniques of de-contextualization, naturalization, culturalization and folklorization and which images of social order do they reflect? How can transitions between typifying attributions and active role play be captured? And to what extent do social types act as components of specific representations of the city?

Keywords
urban “folk types”, social types, folklorization, representations of the city, urban anthropology