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10 terms

Popular Culture

Pop culture
aesthetic products created and sold by profit-seeking firms operating in the global entertainment market. Ex: reality tv shows, hip hop music etc.
1. "popular"
means well liked; in a market economy, that popularity is often best demonstarted through commercial success.
2. popular culture (Gamson 1994; Gabler 2000)
refers to icons or media products that are globally ubiquitous and easily recognized (if perhaps disliked or mocked) the world over
Herbert Gans (1975)
outlines various level of culture high, pop (distance our selves from it b/c its less authentic/ for commercial purposes), and folk culture.
3. popular culture (MacDonald 1957)
refers to commercial madia thought to be trivial, tacky, and pitched to the lowest common denominator as amss culture intended for general consumption, like canned soup or chewing gum. ex: chicken nuggets
4. popular culture
is associated with songs, dances and other folk expressions belonging to the peopl under the guise of democratic populism and authnticity.
Defining culture in humanities
culture is defined by Raymond Williams (1983) as "the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity" (outward forms of culture: opera and paintings) particularly those that lead toward "a general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development" (funtion towards enlightment)
Defining culture in social sciences
refers to "a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period, a group, or a humanity in genearl" (Williams) ex: cooking and eating styles.
Three Properties of Culture
-Culture is richly symbolic, invested with meaning and significance
-The meanings attributed to culture are never simply given but are the product of human invention, socially constructed and agreed upon among a demonstrably large number of a societys members
-For culture to be sensibly understood, it must be embodied in some kind of recognized form.
Cultural Objects
To best emphasize the three properties of culture, Wendy Griswold (1985) characterizes the sociology of culture as the study of cultural objects: shared significance embodied in form. Socially expression that is audible, visible, or tangible or that can be articulated.