1. “Culture” and “Popular Culture”

2. “Culture” and “Popular Culture”
 What is “Culture”?
 Characteristics of “culture”
 Defining “Popular” + “Culture”
 Characteristics of “Popular Culture”
 The Popular Culture Formula

3. What is "CULTURE?"

4. "Culture?” a first definition…
 Agricultural meaning…

5. "Culture?“ a second definition…
 An Evaluative Definition
• The general process of intellectual,
spiritual, and/or aesthetic development

6. •Historically
“Culture” = refinement and intellectual superiority
“The best that has been thought and said in the world”
(Matthew Arnold, 1869)
•Socially Defined
Working classes were “raw and uncultivated”
posed a cultural danger to the elite
Upper classes possessed and protected Culture
their duty was to impart culture on everyone else
Matthew Arnold

7. Culture for elites and Culture for the rest of us

8. Okay But…
 If “Culture” belonged to the elite – how did we classify the “un-
culture” of the masses: folk music, legends, traditions, folk arts?
 As opposed to “High” culture , late 19th Century saw a rise in “folk”
culture
– artifacts created by a specific community or ethnic group –
transmitted through oral communication – Fairytales, folksongs,
proverbs and dialects
 Not a threat to society because it was a culture in decline
(industrialization and urbanization)

9. Other Categories of Culture
 Folk culture
– Products developed in a limited community and
transmitted directly from generation to
generation, between "folk" familiar with each
other

10. Categories of Culture
 Folk culture
– Products developed in a limited community and
transmitted directly from generation to
generation, between "folk" familiar with each
other
 Elite/High Culture
– Products produced by and for a limited number
of people with specialized interests, training or
knowledge

11. Characteristics
 High Culture  Folk Culture
– Unique and innovative – Common and traditional
– Difficult thought provoking – Simple and accepted
– Not commercial – art for art‟s – Personal for present day
sake – Oral traditions
– Timeless – Often commercial
– Small elite audience – Limited audience

12. "Culture?“ – a third definition
 a general process of intellectual, spiritual,
and aesthetic development
 a particular way of life, whether of a people,
a period or a group
Raymond Williams

13. "Culture?"
 a general process of intellectual, spiritual,
and aesthetic development
 a particular way of life, whether of a people,
a period or a group
– the works and practices of creative
activity

14. "Culture?"
 a general process of intellectual, spiritual,
and aesthetic development
 a particular way of life, whether of a people,
a period or a group
– the works and practices of creative
activity

15. Yeah, but What About
Everyone Else?
 High and Folk Culture represented only a small
population, so...
 What about the modifier “popular”? What do we
mean by “popular culture” as opposed to just
“culture”?
 “Popular” – in its broadest sense means “of the
people” and we use it to mean “accepted and/or
approved of by a larger number of people”

16. Relationship between three
types of culture

17. Be aware that…
 Negative Connotation:
o Seen as a hollow imitation of „true‟
culture – conveyed no worthwhile
message or value
o Works as a drug – giving its audience a
false sense of reality (Marxist)
o “Powerful and pervasive de-educator of
the public mind” – F.R. Leavis

18. Relationship between three
types of culture
 FLUID
– Nothing to prevent YOU from moving
from one area/type to another
– Cultural ARTIFACT can change
categories

19. For Example - Elvis
 Pop Culture (for sure)
 Innovative music
– Combining genres
 Stretched boundaries
– Musically
– Socially

20. For Example - Mozart
 Classified as High Culture – patronized by
18th C Viennese aristocracy
 But not limited to that class – his tunes
were whistled in the streets – became
„popular‟
 Now his music is on “greatest classical hits
” CDs in bargain bins at WALMART
 Mozart on Film Soundtracks
 Media the means for classification?
 If it‟s heard outside a symphony hall is it
still high culture?

21. “Culture” and “Popular Culture”
 What is “Culture”?
 Characteristics of “culture”
 Defining “Popular” + “Culture”
 Characteristics of “Popular Culture”
 The Popular Culture Formula

22. Characteristics of CULTURE

23. Characteristics of CULTURE
 Culture is SYMBOLIC

24. Characteristics of CULTURE
 Culture is SYMBOLIC
 Culture is SHARED

25. Characteristics of CULTURE
 Culture is SYMBOLIC
 Culture is SHARED
– Subcultures

26. Characteristics of CULTURE
 Culture is SYMBOLIC
 Culture is SHARED
– Subcultures
 Culture is LEARNED

27. Characteristics of CULTURE
 Culture is SYMBOLIC
 Culture is SHARED
– Subcultures
 Culture is LEARNED
 Culture is ORDINARY

28. So, in other words…
CULTURE is a social group's
SYSTEM OF MEANING

29. “Believing that man is an animal suspended in webs
of meaning that he has spun himself, I take culture to
be those webs....”
--Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures 1973)

31. “A society is possible in the last analysis because
the individuals in it carry around in their heads
some sort of picture of that society.”
--- Karl Mannheim, Utopia and Society (1964)

32. “If you can write the nation’s stories, you don’t
need to worry about who writes its laws.”
--- George Gerbner, Communication, (1978)

33. “Communication is a symbolic process
whereby reality is produced, maintained,
repaired and transformed.”
--James Carey, “Cultural View of
Communication”, p. 10

34. “Culture” and “Popular Culture”
 What is “Culture”?
 Characteristics of “culture”
 Defining “Popular” + “Culture”
 Characteristics of “Popular Culture”
 The Popular Culture Formula

35. And Popular Culture is…
 the products of human work and thought
which are accepted and approved of by a
large community or population

36. But what about history?
Did popular culture start with mass media?

37. But what about history?
Modernists Classicists

38. Although modern communications
technology has vastly extended the reach of
popular entertainment, popular entertainment
began long ago.
Gladiatorial combat in the arena in ancient
Rome was a form of mass entertainment.

39. Rather like World Wrestling Entertainment today . . .
Without the television.

40.  The Roman and Greek comparison is important.
– State-sponsored entertainment provided in the
Coliseum kept the Roman mob contented and
amused. In fact there was a phrase for this:
“bread and circuses.”
– Popular entertainment in ancient Rome was a
form of social control.
– Give the masses plenty of free food and entertainment
to keep them in line so they wouldn‟t make trouble for
the upper classes.
 Some theorists of popular culture think this is
still the motive behind popular culture today. (e.g.
Adorno & Horkheimer)

41. And Popular Culture is…
 the products of human work and thought
which are (or have been in the past)
accepted and approved of by a large
community or population

42. “Culture” and “Popular Culture”
 What is “Culture”?
 Characteristics of “culture”
 Defining “Popular” + “Culture”
 Characteristics of “Popular Culture”
 The Popular Culture Formula

43. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products

44. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
– Icons
– Stereotypes
– Heroes
– Rituals
– Popular Arts

45. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us

46. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us
 Reflects audience beliefs and values

47. “... "most of popular culture constantly reaffirms
and reproduces the already taken-for-granted
meanings and values in American Society…”
--Lawrence Grossberg, p. 15

48. “zeitgeist”
 ="spirit of an era"
 Popular culture‟s "reflective” nature
– Transitory attitudes and perspectives (hidden and abstract) as
well as deep seated beliefs and values are made CONCRETE in
popular culture

49. The Popular Culture Formula
The popularity of a given cultural element
(object, person, event) is directly proportional
to the degree to which the element reflects
audience beliefs and values. The greater the
popularity of the cultural element—in an era
and/or over time—the more reflective of the
zeitgeist this element is likely to be.
---Nachbar and Lause, p. 5

50. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us
 Reflects audience beliefs and values
 Is commercial

51. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us
 Reflects audience beliefs and values
 Is commercial
 Is often imitative (of itself)

52. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us
 Reflects audience beliefs and values
 Is commercial
 Is often imitative (of itself)
 Shapes audience beliefs and values

53. Characteristics of
Popular Culture
 Consists of artifacts & events & products
 Surrounds us
 Reflects audience beliefs and values
 Is commercial
 Is often imitative (of itself)
 Shapes audience beliefs and values

54. "Popular culture is, then…”
 the artifacts (icons, objects, people,
practices, „art‟ forms) which are (or have
been) accepted and approved of by a large
community or population, promoted via
mass communication media…
– and having widely shared meanings
– and manifesting group identifications to us
– and capable of both reflecting & shaping values, beliefs