New York - Bayreuth - Hyderabad: High Society's Global Reach in the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

In the first half of the 20th century, a new social group emerged in the United States - and particularly in New York City - that was no longer based on wealth but primarily on mass media visibility: high society. Since the 1880s, a distinct form of society reporting had been taking shape in American journalism, reaching its first high point in the 1920s and 1930s. This brought the seemingly private cosmos of love affairs, scandals, parties, and consumerism into view and determined who the new social trendsetters would be. The article explores the key features of New York high society in the interwar period and shows how its protagonists learned to navigate the new media logics. Following a high-society couple on their journey to the Indian princely states, it moreover analyzes New York high society's global reach. Contrary to the assumption that a greater distance to a "Western center" meant less exchange or fewer similarities, the article proposes to trace less obvious connections instead. By investigating the multidirectional interactions with the maharajas and maharanis, the article shows how participating in the world of high society could be both highly political and completely depoliticized at the same time.