Full Description
This first volume of the collected writings of sociologist Leo Lowenthal contains his classic theoretical and historical writings on the relationship of art to mass culture. This book series presents Lowenthal's contributions to a theory of the role of communication in modern society.
This volume lays out the basis for a theory of mass culture. Lowenthal demonstrates that the juxtaposition of a "low" mass culture and a "high" esoteric culture did not originate in contemporary industrial, bourgeois society but can be traced back to the Middle Ages and antiquity.
Contents
AcknowledgmentsPrefacePart I: Historical and Empirical Studies1 Historical Perspectives of Popular Culture 2 The Debate Over Art and Popular Culture: A SynopsisExcursus A: Notes on the Theater and the Sermon3 Eighteenth Century England: A Case StudyExcursus B: The Debate on Cultural Standards in Nineteenth Century England4 The Reception of Dostoevski in Pre-World War I Germany 5 The Biographical Fashion 6 The Triumph of Mass IdolsExcursus C: Some Thoughts on the 1937 Edition of International Who's WhoPart II: Contributions to the Philosophy of Communication7 On Sociology of Literature (1932) 8 On Sociology of Literature (1948) 9 Humanistic Perspectives of David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd 10 Popular Culture: A Humanistic and Sociological Concept
