Value Of Popular Culture

Improved Essays
Show More
To study popular culture is to challenge the assumption that high culture carries worth, and low culture is the binary opposite therefore lacking in value. Popular culture, is the everyday ordinariness of life (Williams 1958: 93) and saturates everyday life. Popular culture is so widespread that its presence cannot be ignored within an academic study of humanities. The dilemmas surrounding popular culture originate from definition: in defining it with recognition to its historical subjugation to high culture, whilst continuing to maintain its relevance, could be seen as subversive. However, reluctance of academic to address popular culture misrepresents lived experiences whilst writing them out of history and cleanses cultural artefacts of …show more content…
Without this platform for critique and analysis the dominant culture continues to reproduce inequalities as well as govern critical discourse. Furthermore, without this – the intellectual has no voice within public discussion and understanding of popular culture, contemporary or historical. The university education would be failing if it produced academics and scholars who are proficient in a narrow area, for this is of restricted practical use in a society saturated with popular culture. The academic study of popular culture is political because it seeks to uncover the ways in which cultural items of consumption are created, selected, consumed and interpreted in relation to dominant ideals of identity and lifestyle. Furthermore, these notions and formations of identity and lifestyle relate to (predominantly, but not restricted to) gender and class. Issues around ethnicity have not been addressed within this essay due to the author being white, to speak on behalf of people of colour would be to demonstrate a privilege oppositional to the agenda of studying popular

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Conceptualization Of Black Culture In Popular Culture
    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Conceptualization Of Black Culture In Popular Culture

    First of all, we need to understand the meaning of popular culture. Popular culture is the culture of the mass. With the inventions of televisions and radios, the culture is heavily influenced by what is being conveyed on those outlets. This includes all the…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    White Privilege The Invisible Knapsack
    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages

    White Privilege The Invisible Knapsack

    In the selected article, Campbell describes his reflection on times in his life where he was met with challenges due to his race. These challenges directly attacked his perceived way of life based off of assumptions as opposed to facts and evidence. As a white male, Campbell argues that he has had no racial privilege and more so that privilege is not attached to race but many other attributes. Campbell refuses to acknowledge “white privilege” and prefers to address emotional stereotypes that are taken as fact. By applying reason over emotion the reader is able to see that “white privilege” is accordingly just a privilege and not inherent of race.…

    • 441 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Personal Essay: Cultural Communication In Popular Culture
    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Personal Essay: Cultural Communication In Popular Culture

    Hi, I am XX, you can call me XX. It’s a pleasure to stand here and do the first graded presentation here. I almost love all kind of art: music, film, painting and literature. I started playing piano when I was five, and now I prefer some rock and roll. I am very interested about cultural communication with new media.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Symbols Of White Slavery In Octavia Butler's Kindred
    • 1076 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Symbols Of White Slavery In Octavia Butler's Kindred

    White privilege means, for the sake of this essay, that because of your skin color, you will not experience the same injustices that a person of color will face. It mainly applies to those who are Caucasian, but it is also applicable to those who are people of color and are “white-passing” in which their skin is lighter, causing them to appear “white.” Examples of white privilege are very apparent, such as the lack of representation of people of color in the media, yet it is widely unknown or rejected by those who have it. In Octavia Butler’s Kindred, the author provides characters, such as the Weylins and Kevin, to make white privilege more visible and more obvious to us through the eyes of the main character, Dana.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    Discrimination In Pop Culture
    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Discrimination In Pop Culture

    The impact that the popular culture has brought cannot be ignored. This paper seeks to analyze the role of pop culture (in particular…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Role Of Popular Culture In Everything Bad Is Good For You
    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Role Of Popular Culture In Everything Bad Is Good For You

    In Everything Bad Is Good For You by Steven Johnson and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, the role of popular culture as a mode of reflection on society reveals the importance of intellectual complexity being a referent power that motivates individuals to analyze their society and create independent-minded judgments based on these observations to create changes for the overall prosperity and progress. In Everything Bad Is Good For You, one of Steven Johnson’s key points is his theory of the Sleeper Curve. The Sleeper Curve is the concept of popular culture, like television and video games gaining complexity as time goes on. An example of this complexity is the development of television shows with simultaneous plot lines, or the evolution of video…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Media, Markets, And The Culture Of Thinness In America
    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Media, Markets, And The Culture Of Thinness In America

    Culture we all are familiar with as being about a group of people’s language, literature, or the way they interact with one another. When we take a look at culture through the eyes of sociologist we find that it contains the norms and beliefs that a group of people have. Chapter three really captures the idea that our culture is molded by our society full of fad trends and what we are shown via the television, in ads, movies, and magazines. In our daily life we can’t help but be captivated by all of those sources of media because they are readily available for us to view and that is what plays a big role shaping what the norms are of life.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Devaluing Popular Culture
    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Devaluing Popular Culture

    When acknowledging one's job, popular culture forms an instant opinion and reaction, either valuing or devaluing whatever job that is being recognized. Culture devalues jobs that can be achieved by the type people that do not have any sort of degree, or high academic value. Lower jobs are arguably looked down upon and pursuing an education is more valued. No little kid says, “I want to be a plumber when I grow up!”…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Understanding Hipness: Subcultural Capital As A Feminist Tool '
    • 1663 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Understanding Hipness: Subcultural Capital As A Feminist Tool '

    Understanding Hipness: ‘Subcultural Capital’ as a Feminist Tool by Sarah Thornton and Women and the Early British Rave Scene by Maria Pini, both discuss and analyze the social dance culture of the 1980’s. Thornton’s article focused primarily on the culture of clubbing while Pini’s article focused more on rave culture, however both did mention clubbing and raving at points in their article. Both articles carry validity in their arguments however it is important to take bias into account when analyzing their points. Throughout analyzing their articles, I’ve found my own personal criticisms of their writing choices and arguments. Sarah Thornton’s article, Understanding Hipness: ‘Subcultural Capital’ as a Feminist Tool, had three main points:…

    • 1663 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Popular Culture In The Wolf Of Wall Street
    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Popular Culture In The Wolf Of Wall Street

    This paper will examine how the film: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) contains ideas which are formed around popular culture. Popular culture is defined as the sum of cultural things such as music, fashion, cyber culture, television and media that society follows (Crossman, 2016). The first topic that will be explained is how status, power, money and drugs affected the main character, Jordan Belfort. The second topic will be regarding the sexual objectification of females and how females were used to captivate the audience. Finally, the last concept will be about the use of discourse and linguistics throughout the film.…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Comparing And Contrasting The Frankfurt School And The Birmingham School
    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Comparing And Contrasting The Frankfurt School And The Birmingham School

    As soon as the mass media appeared, many of the scholarly researchers brought advanced theories on popular culture. Thesis emerged and each one was a probe to give an in-depth understanding of the audience reactions to media texts and cultural artifacts. This essay will attempt to comparing and contrasting the Frankfurt School and the Birmingham School, two key theories that helped unlock and unveil structural codes of media texts. Both schools, shaped by particular historical conditions, studied the processes of cultural production, the audience reception and use of cultural artefacts.…

    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Social Media Vocabulary
    • 1619 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Social Media Vocabulary

    Social Media and Its New Vocabulary Thanks to social media the English language has radically changed from what it was 50 years ago. It has changed so much that new words keep being added to the dictionary, words that if we are being completely honest are usually only used by people no older than maybe 30. Words that have been invented in recent years are words like “fleek”, which is generally used to describe when someone is looking good. Another example to the ever growing list of contemporary language would be “bae”, which apparently means “before anyone else” or it also used as a shorten version of “babe”.…

    • 1619 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Literacy Criticism In Literature
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Literacy Criticism In Literature

    Literacy Criticism The literacy criticism emphases on the interpretation of material received (Gasher, et.al, 2012). Furthermore, this criticism considers the ways things can be portrayed and analyzed. For example, things become recorded into texts, it then becomes exposed to interpretation and discussion (Gasher, et.al, 2012). The literacy criticism also considers different approaches and portrays of media can be diverse for cultures. For example, in North America a biscuit means a buttery, flaky bread served with savory means.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Reflective Essay: What Is A Cultural Appropriation?
    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reflective Essay: What Is A Cultural Appropriation?

    We can all admit that at one point in life we have caught ourselves following the latest trends. We assume the style is an idea that is in for the moment, that came randomly from someone or somewhere that does not concern us. When in actuality it derived from a culture far from where we are with a deeper and significant meaning. This is what is known as cultural appropriation. No matter if it is an accident or intentional, taking an idea or style that does not belong to our original culture is considered as cultural appropriation.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Importance Of Culture And The Arts
    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Importance Of Culture And The Arts

    In this essay, it will be further discuss on the question whether culture and the arts should be funded if they are not profitable. According to Edward Tylor, “culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor, 1889). Culture and arts is an important element that the people today should not neglect, as it is present in every society and nation. It also represents the society in terms of its ideas, feelings and values. With that, it is reasonable to say that the richness of a society is determined by its art and culture.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings