In German, “Spiesser” (philistine) is used as a pejorative term designating a narrow-minded and conformist way of life. In this paper, the term “Spießerverdikt” (philistine verdict), whereby the members of the middle class are attacked as representatives of the existing order, is conceptualised as a communicative pattern used in disputes about the interpretation of the social order. Various forms of the “Spiesserverdikt” have been circulating in the German-speaking area since the early 19th century, creating counter-hegemonic horizons of meaning for social positioning and legitimation. In order to assess their function in the creation and validation of ideas of social order, the paper traces the development of the “Spiesserverdikt” on the basis of three variants: the philistine satire in the Romantic era, the criticism of the petty bourgeois in the class theory shaped by Marx and Engels and the bohemian anti-bourgeois self-portrayal. Working from a cultural-sociological perspective on social change, it is shown how the discursive practice of disparagement is used in conflicts about the interpretation of the (existing and desired) social order and can become a factor of societal upheaval itself.