Einleitung: Produktionswelten der Massenkultur

Abstract

This thematic issue offers an historical perspective on the cultural economy and creative work by focusing on the production of mass culture fromthe late 19th century to the 1930s. The contributions bring together approaches from cultural sociology as well as social and cultural history to analyze the spheres of production, producers and mediators, working conditions, labor relations and distribution structures in different cultural industries. They investigate the social and spatial organization of the cultural economy within and beyond Germany’s borders to critically assess national perspectives on cultural production and to offer new insights into the social and economic history of German society.

Biographical Note

Prof. Dr. Maren Möhring (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University)

Having studied history and German literature in Hamburg and Dublin and having gained a PhD in history in Munich and a venia legendi in modern history in Cologne, my research interests currently include the history of migration, body and gender history, the history of modern mass culture and the role of food and health in modern societies.

Dr. Antje Dietze (SFB 1199)

Antje Dietze is a senior researcher in the Collaborative Research Center (SFB 1199) “Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition”. She teaches courses in transnational history and transregional studies at the Global and European Studies Institute, the Institute for the Study of Culture and the Graduate School Global and Area Studies at Leipzig University. In 2014/15, she was a German Academic Exchange Service P.R.I.M.E. research fellow at the Centre canadien d’études allemandes et européennes at Université de Montréal, Canada. Her main areas of research include the social and cultural history of Germany, Europe and North America in the 19th and 20th century, entangled histories of Cold War and post-socialist cultures, as well as the transnational history of the cultural economy. Her current research project investigates the production and circulation of mass entertainment in North America and Europe from the 1830s to the 1930s.