IntroductionTO

Popular Culture
TheGenesis ofPopular Culture
"Pop culture reveals many facets of human behavior
throughout history. It is hard to define the human
experience
without it.”
Jay Wertz (History LLC, 2015)
Historical Backgroundand the
Riseof PopularCulture
16thCentury (1501-1600)
The Boom of the Printing Press
Although the printing press originally started in the 1400s,
it only boomed in 1500s/ 16th century
the start of products of popular culture since printing
presses can “mass produce” written materials/content
that is consumed by many people
18th- 19thCentury (1700-1900)
Penny Press
The term “popular culture” was coined in the 18th century.
It appeared in an address by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
to the British Public
Emerging of “Penny Press”, newspapers were sold for one
cent; things are cheap that nearly everybody can afford
it
18th- 19thCentury (1700-1900)
Urbanization, Industrialization, and Democratization
Rise in urbanization, industrialization, and democratization
Urbanization allowed for materials to spread quickly, because people live in close
quarters/close relation to one another
industrialization-large number of people worked in large buildings, industrial centers
Democratization- the masses of people have recognized their rights, and that they
demand for equal access to entertainment—which was a privilege before
18th- 19thCentury (1700-1900)
Mass production and Mass Culture

Quicker production and quicker spread of materials

People had time for “entertainment”
18th- 19thCentury (1700-1900)
De-established ELITE/PEASANT model
Threatened traditional elite and folk culture
Elite(high end, traditional, proper)
Folk (quant, unique,innocent)
Mass- content for everyone!
18th- 19thCentury (1700-1900)
Emerging types of popular culture in the 1800s
Newspapers
Dime Novels (magazines with lots of short stories)
Travelling Variety Shows
Photography
Art was supposed to represent what is real, but photography literally presents the
“real” so art goes into a detour to become abstract, which, for the average person is
difficult to understand

College and National sport (became elements of pride and representation)

Dance halls (that play popular music, urban setting)
Early1900s
Emerging types of popular culture

Rise of music, capturing of music/ recording of music

Comics (in newspapers, then comic books)
Film (capturing of moving reality)
Radio (live or pre-recorded)
TV (sound and image, captured reality easily accessed)
2000s- present
Emerging types of popular culture

Internet
Breaking Down
Popular Culture
LET US FIRST DEFINE WHAT CULTURE IS
Culture
Culture is considered as “one of the two or three most
complicated words in the English language” (Williams, 1976)

Raymond Williams stated this in his book “Keywords: A

Vocabulary of Culture and Society” for two major reasons:

Its intricate historical development

Indisputable impact in other systems of thought
Culture
Williams, 1976
A general process of intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic
development
A particular way of life, whether of a people, a period, or a
group
Works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic
activity
Culture
Edward Tylor, 1871

“Culture ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge,

belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
Culture
Franz Boas (1911)
“Culture may be defined as the totality of the mental and physical
reactions and activities that characterize the behavior of
individuals composing a social group collectively and individually in
relations to their natural environment, to other groups, to members
of the group itself and of each individual to
himself”
Culture
John Dewey (1916)

“…there is perhaps no better definition of culture than that it is the

capacity for constantly expanding the range and accuracy of one's
perception of meanings.”
Culture
Ruth Benedict (1934)

“What really binds men together is their culture -- the ideas and the
standards they have in common.”
Culture
Margaret Mead (1937)

“Culture means the whole complex of traditional behavior which

has been developed by the human race and is successively learned
by each generation. A culture is less precise. It can mean the forms
of traditional behavior which are characteristics of a given society,
or of a group of societies, or of a certain race, or of a certain area,
or of a certain period of time.”
Culture
James Baldwin (1955)

“Culture was not a community basket weaving project, nor yet an

act of God; being nothing more or less than the recorded and
visible effects on a body of people of the vicissitudes which they
had been forced to deal with.”
Culture
Marvin Harris (1983)

“Culture is the learned, socially acquired traditions and lifestyles of

the members of a society, including their patterned, repetitive ways
of thinking, feeling, acting.”
Culture
Renato Rosaldo (1989)

“Culture lends significance to human experience by selecting from

and organizing it. It refers broadly to the forms through which
people make sense of their lives, rather than more narrowly to the
opera or art of museums.”
Culture
Edward T. Hall (1976)

“Culture is the medium evolved by humans to survive. Nothing is free

from cultural influences. It is the keystone in civilization’s arch and is
the medium through which all of life’s events must flow. We are
culture.”
Culture
Common to these given definitions of culture are:
-Beliefs
-Being transmitted and learned
-Social Groups
-Communication
-Behaviors
-Purpose
-Ideas
-Meanings
Culture
Therefore, culture can be summarized as:
“Culture is the world made meaningful; it is socially constructed
and maintained through communication. It limits as well as
liberates us; it differentiates as well as unites us. It defines our
realities and thereby shapes the ways we think, feel, and act.”
(Adapted from Baran, 2003)
Types ofCulture
1.High
2. Folk
3. Popular
High Culture
Culture is but a natural possession of the upper class
The preferences of the upper class are the best ones there ever will be
Examples:
Folk Culture
Fairy tales, proverbs, songs, and languages that come from the class of farmers,
peasants etal.,
Though as highly cultural as any of those the upper-class think are the best and essential
ones, folk culture is not really seen as a threat
It is believed that, sooner or later, it would just fade well into the background upon the
arrival of modernization,
Tends to stay near its hearth, lacks diffusion

Example: Native tribal regalia, traditional dances

Folk Culture
popular culture
At the end of the day, though, high and folk culture only represent a very small
percentage of the general population combined

Many are still left somewhere in the middle in some kind of cultural limbo

The activities and pastimes of those who belong in this class, it seems, are seen to be
unworthy of categorization

It was from these questionably cultural predilections that arise the idea of “popular
culture”
popular culture
Fr aming w hat is
POPULAR
POPULAR
By definition, popular is defined as “liked,
admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a
particular person or group.

Intended for or suited to the taste,

understanding, or means of the general public
rather than specialists or intellectuals

Belief or attitude held by the majority of the

general public
THREE
KINDS OF
POPULAR
1.Inferior due to its availability
(available everywhere, therefore losing
its value)
2. Intentionally seeking attention
(trying to achieve popularity)
3. Liked by a lot of people