The genre "neues kritisches Volksstück" originates from South German and Austrian stages and peaks in the 1970ies and 80ies. Young rebellious authors see themselves in the tradition of authors such as HORVÁTH and FLEIßER and try to reach broad audiences through a well-known type of drama in which they aim to show certain social problems through realistic depiction. The typical setting is the alpine rural village and its inhabitants, however there is also a history of plays set in urban areas

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... h working-class background. The main topic of the genre is an individual's struggle with society and the inherent motives of societal exclusion. The analysis of four representative plays shows connections between dramatical localisation and specific aspects of social criticism. Cityscapes and countryside function as complex hermeneutical units that presuppose specific ways of portrayal. Social misfits naturally appear in every community regardless of their location. But this analysis states that rural areas and their transparent social microstructure are more suitable to depict acts of exclusion due to antisocial reasons, whereas urban scenes are used to show exclusion caused by economy and society itself. A special effect seen in this genre is the shock caused by the intentional inversion of the audience's expectations.