Driving social change: The power of public opinion – understanding the network dynamics in German-Jewish periodical culture, 1750s–1930s

The history of the Jewish press can be studied both as a mirror and as a motor. The former looks back on the relationship between history and culture. It lends itself to the purpose of curation and retrieval and implies an agreed Jewish historiography. The latter method is forward looking. It suggests a more holistic approach, reaching beyond the identification of individual titles, and encourages a mapping of the overall Jewish press landscape in terms of cultural and economic capital, marginal initiatives, cross referencing, and the identification of trends. This article embarks on the latter approach. Presupposing that public discourses do not just reflect or represent social entities and alliances, but also construct or constitute them, I focus on the visionary character of Jewish periodicals and on their transformative function.