Book: “Few developments in the industrial era have had a greater impact on everyday social life than the explosion of the mass media and commercial entertainments. Few developments have more profoundly shaped the nature of modern politics. Nowhere in Europe were the tensions and controversies surrounding the rise of mass culture more politically charged than in Germany — debates that fatefully played into the hands of the radical right. This book provides an account of the expansion of the mass media in Germany up to the Second World War. In essence, it provides a social history of mass culture by investigating the role and impact of film, radio, recorded music, popular press, and advertising on everyday leisure as well as on shifting patterns of social distinction. Furthermore, it also analyses the political implications of these changes as part of a radically altered public sphere. Straddling the Imperial, Weimar, and Nazi periods, it shows how the social effects and meaning of mass culture were by no means straightforward or ‘standardizing’, but rather changed under different political and economic circumstances. By locating the rapid expansion of communications and commercial entertainments firmly within their broader historical context, it sheds light on the relationship between mass media, social change, and political culture during this tumultuous period in German history.” Published 2008. Not open source.

by: Corey Ross

• publisher’s description
• keywords: cultural context; sound studies; technology; material culture; ethics; politics; interdisciplinary; popular music; bibliography; advertising, entertainment, film, Germany, mass culture, media, leisure, political culture, press, radio

• Listing ID: 2056
• Resource Type: Book/Text
• Geographic Area: Europe
• Audience: undergrad + grad
• Century: 1900-1999 (20thC)