How Does Culture Accumulate Inequality?

How does culture become reconfigured for different audiences and how does that reproduce inequality? Who ascribes value to “high” and “low” culture? In order to answer these questions, we must look further into the rise and fall of American culture. Culture is not something tangible that anyone can put under a telescope to examine, it changes all the time. When the problem of culture comes into play in any point of American history it begins with the separation of class. This separation is caused by the reconfiguration of audiences to further the social gap in society, that further enforces inequality that will lead to unreachable standards in the near future. Those that ascribe “high” and “low” value to culture are the elites in power that …show more content…
Culture, or the idea of culture, has been around for a very long time, and with it being around for so long also brings the difficulties of what it is meant to accomplish. Of one of the earliest case studies viewed was of “The Case of Carnival in Feudal Society” where Professor Cruz describes it as, “Carnival was an annual ritual allowing social order to be temporarily suspended and played with…” (5 April 2018). This is what brought peace into society, that the tensions amongst the elites and peasants was blurred. With this instances, “Carnival” was part of France culture, everyone just participated without any question. As this culture practiced continued it went from being a typical social routine into something that can shorten the gap the elites had with the peasants. This blurred line in society caused by culture resulted in revolutionary thinking. As the elites in power realized that more and more peasants were believing in this revolutionary thinking that “Carnival” can close the gap, they decided it was “low” for elites to participate in this and started to separate …show more content…
That would be the controversial film, “Birth of a Nation” that has since its creation, has been up for discussion and interpretation from different points of American history. To see this silent film was one of the first media related instances of summarizing what America truly believes in, deep in their hearts. The creation was to undermine the fourteenth amendment, and bring the Jim Crow laws into effect. In two hours within the film, it displays on the film about “The Ku Klux Klan, the organization that saved the South from the anarchy of black rule…” and the agreement from that idea of individuals that see it aligning with their culture. This racial placement of America is not the popular culture perceived of every individual, but a good portion. With this the shift of what the “high” end culture is trying to shift back to racial degradation. This shift depending who see’s it is either possible or not, because this is creating inequality to the human level of inferiority. Normally having a gap in society is welcomed because of competition is healthy and separates those that are able to succeed. This film is trying to go back to inequality or dehumanizing individuals and having a gap based on nothing possible besides skin tone, and that is not a healthy from of popular culture anymore. The film just proved to individuals what is still out there with