Mass Media, Culture and Society in Twentieth-Century Germany

This is the first study of mass media in Germany from a social and cultural-historical perspective. Beyond the conventional focus on organizational structures or aesthetic content, it investigates the impact the media has on German society under varying political systems, and how the media is shaped by wider social, political and cultural context. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Mass Media, Culture and Society in Twentieth-Century Germany: An Introduction....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Entertainment, Technology and Tradition: The Rise of Recorded Music from the Empire to the Third Reich....Pages 25-43 ‘Underground’: Counter-Culture and the Record Industry in the 1960s....Pages 44-60 The Invention of a Listening Public: Radio and its Audiences....Pages 61-79 Radio Programming, Ideology and Cultural Change: Fascism, Communism and Liberal Democracy, 1920s–1950s....Pages 80-94 Front Matter....Pages 95-95 Two-Fold Admiration: American Movies as Popular Entertainment and Artistic Model in Nazi Germany, 1933–39....Pages 97-112 Looking West: The Cold War and the Making of Two German Cinemas....Pages 113-128 Television and Social Transformation in the Federal Republic of Germany....Pages 129-145 Split Screens? Television in East Germany, 1952–89....Pages 146-164 Technical Innovation, Social Participation, Societal Self-Reflection: Televised Sport in (West) German Society....Pages 165-180 Front Matter....Pages 181-181 Industries of Sensationalism: German Tabloids in Weimar Berlin....Pages 183-203 Reading, Advertising and Consumer Culture in the Weimar Period....Pages 204-216 Living Pictures: Photojournalism in Germany, 1900 to the 1930s....Pages 217-233 ‘Smut and Trash’: Germany’s Culture Wars Against Pulp Fiction....Pages 234-250 Back Matter....Pages 251-254 Although the huge expansion of the mass media is undoubtedly one of the central developments in industrialized societies over the twentieth century, in the case of Germany few historians have devoted much attention to it until recent years. In particular, the question of how modern mass media such as tabloids, film, radio and television, or recordings fitted into wider social and cultural developments in Germany's turbulent history has rarely been addressed. This volume is the first wide-ranging study of the rise of the mass media in Germany in social- and cultural-historical perspective. Bringing together some of the best recent historical research on film, radio, recorded sound and the print media by scholars in Europe and North America, it investigates the impact they have had on twentieth-century German society under widely varying political systems, and how in turn the media and their uses were shaped by the wider social, political and cultural context This volume is the first wide-ranging study of the rise of the mass media in Germany from a social and cultural-historical perspective. Going far beyond the conventional focus on the organizational structures or aesthetic content of the media, it investigates the impact they have had on twentieth-century German society under widely varying political systems, and how in turn the media and their uses were shaped by the wider social, political and cultural context Unification and the fight for survival Policies, programmes and personalities : the post-1998 Left Party Aims and ambitions : policy, office, votes and the Left Party Haven't we been here before? : comparing the Left Party and the Greens The Left Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania The Left Party in Berlin The Left Party in opposition From the PDS to the Left Party Combining new thinking in International Relations theory with original historical research, Kleuters explores the struggle between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats on the subject of German reunification, from Westbindung to Ostpolitik. The result is a gripping narrative focussing on theoretical relevance in foreign policy decisions-making A comparative analysis of an old and new EU Member State's perceptions of and contributions to EU security and defence. This book focuses on change and continuity in both countries' defence policies and where convergence and divergence has occurred. This has important implications for the EU's effectiveness as an international security actor This new interpretation analyzes some of the central enigmatic features of his writing, arguing that they result from the co-presence of religious scepticism and the desire for a religious foundation of social life.