Abstract

The introduction of the term »populäre Kultur« (popular culture) marks a decisive break with the German intellectual past of the years before 1960. Duringthis time a harsh critique of the »Massenkultur« (mass culture) ranked among the most important discourses of German columnists, literary authors and academic scholars. The new term »populäre Kultur« stems partly back to the positively used terms »popular« and »Popularität« of the romantic tradition (Herder, Schiller et al.). Especially many authors of the years 1980 ff. who use the term »populäre Kultur« quite frequently embrace the culture of the everyday life or the products of the (former) low culture in a much more complete way than their predecessors