The project of writing a social history of literature is generally held to have exhausted its potential. Yet the general practice of literary studies still encompasses socio-historical issues like the relationship between literary texts and their social environment, studies on the distribution of literature, questions pertaining to the historical and social status of authors and readers. The articles in this volume essay a stock-taking of the (now historical) paradigm 'social history of literature' and by engaging critically with approaches from cultural studies and media theory outline new concepts for literary studies 'after social history'.