Popular culture

Widespread norms in a society

For the song, see Pop Culture (song).

"Mass Art" redirects here. For the college, see MassArt.

Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art [cf. pop art] or mass art, sometimes contrasted with fine art)[1][2] and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. Popular culture also encompasses the activities and feelings produced as a result of interaction with these dominant objects. Mass media, marketing, and the imperatives of mass appeal within capitalism constitute the primary engines of Western popular culture—a system philosopher Theodor Adorno critically termed the 'culture industry'.[3]

Heavily influenced in modern times by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of people in a given society. Therefore, popular culture has a way of influencing an individual's attitudes towards certain topics.[4] However, there are various ways to define pop culture.[5] Because of this, popular culture is something that can be defined in a variety of conflicting ways by different people across different contexts.[6] It is generally viewed in contrast to other forms of culture such as folk culture, working-class culture, or high culture, and also from different academic perspectives such as psychoanalysis, structuralism, postmodernism, and more. The common pop-culture categories are entertainment (such as film, music, television, literature and video games), sports, news (as in people/places in the news), politics, fashion, technology, and slang.[7]

## History

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See also: Cultural history

The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the Anglosphere and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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In the past, folk culture functioned analogously to the popular culture of the masses and of the nations.[8]

The phrase "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier.[9] Traditionally,[when?] popular culture was associated[by whom?] with poor education and with the lower classes,[10] as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.[11][12] With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain experienced social changes that resulted in increased literacy rates, and with the rise of capitalism and industrialization, people began to spend more money on entertainment, such as (commercialised) public houses and sports. Reading also gained traction. Labeling penny dreadfuls the Victorian equivalent of video games, The Guardian in 2016 described penny fiction as "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young".[13] A growing consumer culture and an increased capacity for travel via the newly invented railway (the first public railway, Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in north-east England in 1825) created both a market for cheap popular literature and the ability for its distribution on a large scale. The first penny serials were published in the 1830s to meet the growing demand.[14][15]

The stress on the distinction from "official culture" became more pronounced towards the end of the 19th century,[16] a usage that became established by the interbellum period.[17]

From the end of World War II, following major cultural and social changes brought by mass media innovations, the meaning of "popular culture" began to overlap with the connotations of "mass culture", "media culture", "image culture", "consumer culture", and "culture for mass consumption".[18]

The abbreviated form "pop" for "popular", as in "pop music", dates from the late 1950s.[19] Although the terms "pop" and "popular" are in some cases used interchangeably, and their meaning partially overlap, the term "pop" is narrower. Pop is specific to something containing qualities of mass appeal, while "popular" refers to what has gained popularity, regardless of its style.[20][21]

## Definition

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According to author John Storey, there are various definitions of popular culture.[22] The quantitative definition of culture has the problem that too much "high culture" (e.g., television dramatizations of Jane Austen) is also "popular". "Pop culture" is also defined as the culture that is "leftover" when we have decided what high culture is.[citation needed] However, many works straddle the boundaries, e.g., William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, and George Orwell.

A third definition equates pop culture with "mass culture" and ideas. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass-produced for mass consumption by mass media.[23] From a Western European perspective, this may be compared to American culture.[clarification needed] Alternatively, "pop culture" can be defined as an "authentic" culture of the people, but this can be problematic as there are many ways of defining the "people".[page needed] Storey argued that there is a political dimension to popular culture; neo-Gramscian hegemony theory "sees popular culture as a site of struggle between the 'resistance' of subordinate groups in society and the forces of 'incorporation' operating in the interests of dominant groups in society". A postmodernist approach to popular culture would "no longer recognize the distinction between high and popular culture".

Storey claims that popular culture emerged from the urbanization of the Industrial Revolution. Studies of Shakespeare (by Weimann, Barber, or Bristol, for example) locate much of the characteristic vitality of his drama in its participation in Renaissance popular culture, while contemporary practitioners like Dario Fo and John McGrath use popular culture in its Gramscian sense that includes ancient folk traditions (the commedia dell'arte for example).[24][25][need quotation to verify]

Popular culture is constantly evolving and occurs uniquely in place and time. It forms currents and eddies, and represents a complex of mutually interdependent perspectives and values that influence society and its institutions in various ways. For example, certain currents of pop culture may originate from, (or diverge into) a subculture, representing perspectives with which the mainstream popular culture has only limited familiarity. Items of popular culture most typically appeal to a broad spectrum of the public. Important contemporary contributions to understanding what popular culture means have been given by the German researcher Ronald Daus, who studies the impact of extra-European cultures in North America, Asia, and especially in Latin America.

### Levels

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Within the realm of popular culture, there exists an organizational culture. From its beginning, popular culture has revolved around classes in society and the push-back between them. Within popular culture, there are two levels that have emerged, high and low. High culture can be described as art and works considered of superior value, historically, aesthetically and socially. Low culture is regarded by some as that of the lower classes, historically.[26]

### Folklore

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Main article: Folklore

Adaptations based on traditional folklore provide a source of popular culture.[27] This early layer of cultural mainstream still persists today, in a form separate from mass-produced popular culture, propagating by word of mouth rather than via mass media, e.g. in the form of jokes or urban legends. With the widespread use of the Internet from the 1990s, the distinction between mass media and word-of-mouth has become blurred.[citation needed]

Although the folkloric element of popular culture engages heavily with the commercial element, communities amongst the public have their own tastes and they may not always embrace every cultural or subcultural item sold. Moreover, certain beliefs and opinions about the products of commercial culture may spread by word-of-mouth, and become modified in the process and in the same manner that folklore evolves.[citation needed]

## Criticism

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Western popular culture stands persistently accused of functioning as a vast engine of commercialism. This system, critics argue, is designed to privilege products selected and mass-marketed by capitalists. Such criticisms find articulation in the works of Marxist theorists—including luminaries like Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, bell hooks, Antonio Gramsci, Guy Debord, Fredric Jameson, Terry Eagleton—as well as postmodern philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard (who dissected the commercialization of information under capitalism).[28]

### Frankfurt School

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Main article: Culture industry

The Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, delivered critiques through their concept of the "culture industry," explored in their seminal Dialectic of Enlightenment. Drawing from Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, and others, they argued that capitalist popular culture is far from an authentic expression of the people. Instead, it constitutes a system churning out homogenous, standardized products, manufactured to serve the interests of elite domination. Consumer desire for Hollywood films, pop melodies, and disposable bestsellers is not organic, but shaped by the capitalist behemoths—Hollywood studios, record labels, publishing giants—and the elite gatekeepers who dictate which commodities saturate our media, from television screens to print journalism. As Adorno noted, "The industry bows to the vote it has itself rigged".[29] This elite dictates commodification based on narrow ideological values, habituating audiences to formulaic conventions that, Adorno contended, stifle genuine intellectual engagement.[30] His work influenced cultural studies, philosophy, and the New Left.[31]

### Contemporary Critique

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Main articles: Imperialism and Cultural imperialism

The digital age, as music critic Alex Ross observed in New Yorker (2014), has only magnified Adorno's relevance.[32] The success of phenomena like the Harry Potter franchise, as critiqued by Jack Zipes, exemplifies this mass commercialization and corporate hegemony. Zipes contends that culture industry commodities achieve "popularity" precisely through their homogeneity and adherence to formula. The media, he argues, actively molds children's tastes.[33] Postmodern sociologist Jean Baudrillard presented a stark view of the consumer's role. He argued that individuals are relentlessly conditioned to pursue the maximization of pleasure as a social duty – a failure to participate risks rendering one asocial.[34] His core critique held that products of capitalist culture, especially those marketed as rebellious, can only offer an illusion of defiance. True rebellion is impossible because the system producing these commodities remains firmly controlled by the powerful.[35]

Scholarship robustly demonstrates how Western entertainment industries fortify transnational capitalism and cement Western cultural dominance.[36] Consequently, commercial entertainment is less an authentic local expression and more a culture amplified by transnational media conglomerates,[37] leading to an homogenization of cultural identities, eroding diverse traditions in favor of marketable forms.[38] These conglomerates—vast media empires controlling music labels, film studios, streaming platforms, and news outlets—are often answerable primarily to shareholders demanding ever-increasing returns.[39] This shareholder primacy incentivizes cost-cutting and profit maximization at the expense of ethical considerations, including fair artist compensation beyond the top tier, safe working conditions, and sustainable sourcing. The advertising revenue that underpins "free" platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify, crucial for promoting stars, is generated through sophisticated surveillance and data extraction, commodifying user attention and privacy on an unprecedented scale.[40]

### Corporate Exploitation

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The culture industry not only standardizes taste but also rests upon and obscures a foundation of global exploitation, resource plunder, and the relentless pursuit of shareholder value above human dignity and ecological sustainability.[41] While mega-stars achieve immense wealth, the system is structured so that the vast majority of revenue flows upwards: to platform owners, shareholders, and executives. The success of celebrities becomes a powerful marketing tool for the conglomerate itself, boosting its stock price and attracting investment, while obscuring the exploitative labour practices and environmental damage embedded within its global supply chains. The very devices essential for consuming this culture often rely on minerals mined under appalling conditions. Cobalt and tantalum, critical for electronics, are frequently sourced from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo using child labour and artisanal miners facing lethal hazards and exploitation, generating vast profits for multinational conglomerates further up the supply chain.[42]

### Feminist Critique

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The influential feminist scholar bell hooks delivers a searing intersectional critique. She argues that commercial celebrities and their branded commodities cannot authentically symbolize liberation while being structurally dependent on – and actively reinforcing – imperialist capitalism and oppressive beauty standards. hooks dissects figures like Beyoncé not merely as artists, but as nodes within a vast profit machinery: her global stardom increases the wealth of corporate giants (Pepsi, Adidas), luxury brands (her Ivy Park brand), and the extractive ad-revenue engines of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Beyoncé’s ascent to billionaire status, hooks contends, exemplifies how such success is built upon and fuels the very systems of patriarchal capitalism it might superficially appear to challenge. Her power derives from, and legitimizes, the industries profiting from exploitation.[43][44]

### Media Critique

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Main article: Propaganda

The very structure of mass media facilitates control, as Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky argued in their pivotal 1988 work, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. They posit that a powerful elite, driven by its own interests, controls and manipulates mainstream information flow. Mass media, therefore, operates as a sophisticated system of propaganda:

> In sum, a propaganda approach to media coverage suggests a systematic and highly political dichotomization in news coverage based on serviceability to important domestic power interests. This should be observable in dichotomized choices of story and in the volume and quality of coverage... such dichotomization in the mass media is massive and systematic: not only are choices for publicity and suppression comprehensible in terms of system advantage, but the modes of handling favored and inconvenient materials (placement, tone, context, fullness of treatment) differ in ways that serve political ends.[45]

Popular culture has frequently served as a vehicle for imperialist ideologies. John M. MacKenzie highlights how many such products were crafted to glorify the British upper classes and promote imperialist worldviews, rather than reflecting a democratic perspective.[46]

## Sources

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### Print culture

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Main article: Print culture

With the invention of the printing press in the sixteenth century, mass-produced, cheap books, pamphlets and periodicals became widely available to the public. With this, the transmission of common knowledge and ideas was possible.[47]

### Radio culture

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Main article: Radio broadcasting

In the 1890s, Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi created the radiotelegraph, allowing for the modern radio to be born. This led to the radio being able to influence a more "listened-to" culture, with individuals being able to feel like they have a more direct impact.[48] This radio culture is vital, because it was imperative to advertising, and it introduced the commercial.

### Films

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Main article: Film

Films and cinema are highly influential to popular culture, as films as an art form are what people seem to respond to the most.[49] With moving pictures being first captured by Eadweard Muybridge in 1877, films have evolved into elements that can be cast into different digital formats, spreading to different cultures.

The impact of films and cinema are most evident when analyzing in the search of what the films aim to portray.[50] Films are used to seek acceptance and understanding of many subjects because of the influence the films carry—an example of an early representation of this can be seen in Casablanca (1942): the film introduced war subjects to the public after the United States entered World War II, and it meant to increase pro-war sentiment for the allies.[51] Films are a known massive influencer to popular culture yet not all films create a movement that contributes enough to be part of the popular culture that starts movements.[citation needed] The content must resonate to most of the public so the knowledge in the material connects with the majority.[citation needed] Popular culture is a set of beliefs in trends and entail to change a person's set of ideologies and create social transformation.[52] The beliefs are still a trend that change more rapidly in the modern age that carries a continuation of outpouring media and more specifically films. The trend does not last but it also carries a different effect based on individuals that can be grouped to generalized groups based on age and education.[citation needed] The creation of culture by films is seen in fandoms, religions, ideologies, and movements. The culture of film is more evident through social media. Social media is an instant source of feedback and creates discussion on films. A repeating event that has been set in modern culture within the trend setting phase is the creation of movements in social media platforms to defend a featured subject on a film.[53]

Popular culture or mass culture, is reached easily with films which are easily shared and reached worldwide.[49]

### Television programs

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Main article: Television program

A television program is a segment of audiovisual content intended for broadcast (other than a commercial, trailer, or other content not serving as attraction for viewership).

Television programs may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, light entertainment, news and reality television). They may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television movies), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They can be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.[citation needed]

### Music

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Main article: Popular music

Popular music is music with wide appeal[54][55] that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.[54] It stands in contrast to both art music[56][57] and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.[56]

### Sports

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Main article: Sport

Sports include all forms of competitive physical activity or games which,[58] through casual or organized participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators.[59] The connection between sports and popular culture is significant in recent times because there is an influx of sport history to keep track of, as sports journalists produce quality pieces, more sports museums are developed, and there are various radio, film, and television documentaries. Sport history has embraced popular culture as it has expanded its horizons on elite athletes and governing bodies, to the study of every day activities. It has broadened its perspective by connecting sports and athletes with class, gender, ethnicity, and disability. Sports are becoming more popular in the eyes of society, and impacting human culture as they get more invested in the game, and perhaps even play the sports themselves in their neighborhoods. Museums also show sports as popular culture, such as Stuart Clarke’s "The Homes of Football" photographic collection in the National Football Museum.[60]

### Corporate branding

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Main article: Corporate branding

Corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the brand name of a corporate entity, as opposed to specific products or services.[61]

### Personal branding

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Main article: Personal branding

Personal branding includes the use of social media to promotion to brands and topics to further good repute among professionals in a given field, produce an iconic relationship between a professional, a brand and its audience that extends networks past the conventional lines established by the mainstream and to enhance personal visibility. Popular culture: is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of the practices, beliefs, and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. As celebrities online identities are extremely important in order to create a brand to line-up sponsorships, jobs, and opportunities. As influencers, micro-celebrities, and users constantly need to find new ways to be unique or stay updated with trends, in order to maintain followers, views, and likes.[62] For example, Ellen DeGeneres has created her own personal branding through her talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. As she developed her brand we can see the branches she created to extend her fan base such as Ellen clothing, socks, pet beds, and more.

### Social media

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Main article: Social media

See also: Information Age

Social media is interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and Snapchat are the most popular applications used on a daily basis by younger generations. Social media tends to be implemented into the daily routine of individuals in our current society. Social media is a vital part of our culture as it continues to impact the forms of communication used to connect with those in our communities, families, or friend groups.[63] We often see that terms or slang are used online that is not used in face-to-face conversations, thus, adding to a persona users create through the screens of technology.[63] For example, some individuals respond to situations with a hashtag or emojis.[63]

Social media influencers have become trendsetters[64] through their direct engagement with large audiences, upending conventional marketing and advertising techniques. Consumer purchase choices have been impacted by fashion partnerships, sponsored material and outfit ideas offered by influencers. Social media has also made fashion more accessible by fostering uniqueness, expanding the depiction of trends, and facilitating the rise of niche influencers. The influencer-driven fashion industry, nevertheless, has also come under fire for encouraging excessive consumerism, inflated beauty ideals, and labour exploitation.[65]

## Influences

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Pop culture has had a lasting influence to the products being released in their time. Many examples of art, books, films and others, have been inspired by pop culture. These include:

### Pop art

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Main article: Pop art

Pop art is an art movement that first emerged in the 1950s as a reaction and a counter to traditional and high-class art by including common and well-known images and references.[66] Artists known during this movement include Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.[67]

### Pop music

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Main article: Pop music

Pop music is a wide-ranging genre of music whose characteristics include styles and tones that have a wider and more massive appeal to all kinds of consumers.[68] Oftentimes, many examples of these music contain influences from other pre-existing works.[69] The origins of popular music began in the late 1800s with the inventions of Edison’s phonograph and Berliner’s gramophone, both of which allowed for music to be available for purchase to the public rather than access to just the elites. Due to the almost nonexistent copyright laws, the early 1900s flourished with composers and publishers aiming to make and sell as much music as they could. The hub for this activity was a small area of New York known as Tin Pan Alley, which quickly became one of the major spots for popular music as the demand grew intensely.[70] Technological advances in the 1940s only furthered the success and popularity of the genre. The reel-to-tape recorder was groundbreaking in terms of innovation and served as the baseline for many more transformations this genre and the music industry as a whole will endure. Along with the continued innovation of popular music, multiple subset genres emerged as the new faces of popular music, all with the foundation of jazz and blues. Some of those genres include Rock and Roll, Punk, and Hip Hop.[70] Due to the increasing mainstream success of popular music, artists of the genre grew in fame and popularity. A few of the major singers and musicians of this genre include Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Elvis Presley, Beatles, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. Popular music will continue to be shaped by, and evolve to fit the tastes and preferences of the public.

### Pop culture fiction

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Main article: Pop culture fiction

Pop culture fiction is a genre in books, comics, films, shows, and many other story-telling media that depicts stories that are purposely filled with easter eggs and references to pop culture.[71][72] The genre often overlaps with satire and parody, but the most-well known are considered to be more serious works of literature. Writers of this genre include Ernest Cline, Bret Easton Ellis, Bryan Lee O'Malley, and Louis Bulaong.[73]

### Pop culture studies

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Main article: Pop culture studies

Pop culture studies are researches thesis, and other academic works that analyzes various trends of pop and mass culture, pop icons, or the effects and influences of pop culture in society and history. Ray B. Browne is one of the first academicians to conduct courses on the studies about pop culture.[74]

## See also

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* Society portal

* Monoculture (popular culture) – Concept of popular culture being experienced globally
* Culture industry – Expression suggesting that popular culture is used to manipulate mass society into passivity
* Fads – Collective behavior that achieves intense short-lived popularity and then fades away
* Fine art – Art developed primarily for aesthetics
* Korean Wave – Global rise in popularity of Korean culture
* The Journal of Popular Culture
* Underground culture – Alternative cultures that differ from the mainstream
* Lowbrow – Underground visual art movement
* MTV Generation – Adolescents during the 1980s through 1990s
* Pop icon – Iconic person or object in popular culture
* Celebrity influence in politics

## Notes

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1. ^ "popular art". Britannica. Archived from the original on 2022-12-10. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
2. ^ Tavinor, Grant (2011). "Video Games as Mass Art". Contemporary Aesthetics. 9. hdl:2027/spo.7523862.0009.009. ISSN 1932-8478. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
3. ^ Lane Crothers (2021). Globalization and American Popular Culture. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 48\. ISBN 978-1538142691. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
4. ^ McGaha, Julie. "Popular Culture & Globalization". Multicultural Education 23.1 (2015): 32–37. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
5. ^ Strinati, D. (2004). An introduction to theories of popular culture. Routledge.
6. ^ Storey, J. (2018). Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction. Routledge.
7. ^ West, Gary. "What Is Pop Culture?". Mr. Pop Culture. Archived from the original on 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
8. ^ Storey, John (2009). "Popular Culture as Folk Culture". Inventing Popular Culture: From Folklore to Globalization. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1405172653.
9. ^ Although the Oxford English Dictionary lists the first use as 1854, it appears in an address by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in 1818: Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich (1818). The Address of Pestalozzi to the British Public. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2020-10-24. "I see that it is impossible to attain this end without founding the means of popular culture and instruction upon a basis which cannot be got at otherwise than in a profound examination of Man himself; without such an investigation and such a basis all is darkness."
10. ^ Per Adam Siljeström [sv], The educational institutions of the United States, their character and organization, J. Chapman, 1853, p. 243: "Influence of European emigration on the state of civilization in the United States: Statistics of popular culture in America". John Morley presented an address On Popular Culture at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1876, dealing with the education of the lower classes.
11. ^ Berrong, Richard M. (2006-03-01). Rabelais and Bakhtin: Popular Culture in Gargantua and Pantagruel. U of Nebraska Press. p. 13\. ISBN 978-0-8032-6261-4.
12. ^ Hayes, E. Bruce (2010). Rabelais's Radical Farce: Late Medieval Comic Theater and Its Function in Rabelais. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 9\. ISBN 978-0-7546-6518-2.
13. ^ Summerscale, Kate (April 30, 2016). "Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
14. ^ "Penny dreadfuls". The British Library. Archived from the original on 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
15. ^ Johnson, Charles (1836). Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads and Murderers. Lloyd, Purkess & Strange. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
16. ^ "Learning is dishonored when she stoops to attract," cited in a section "Popular Culture and True Education" in University extension, Issue 4, The American society for the extension of university teaching, 1894.
17. ^ e.g. "the making of popular culture plays [in post-revolutionary Russian theater]", Huntly Carter, The new spirit in the Russian theatre, 1917–28: And a sketch of the Russian kinema and radio, 1919–28, showing the new communal relationship between the three, Ayer Publishing, 1929, p. 166.
18. ^ "one look at the sheer mass and volume of what we euphemistically call our popular culture suffices", from Winthrop Sargeant, 'In Defense of the High-Brow', an article from LIFE magazine, 11 April 1949, p. 102.
19. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume 15, p. 85 entry Pop music
20. ^ Steinem, Gloria. Outs of pop culture Archived 2023-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, in LIFE magazine, 20 August 1965, p. 73 quotations:

> Pop Culture–although big, mercurial, and slippery to define—is really an umbrella term that covers anything currently in fashion, all or most of whose ingredients are familiar to the public-at-large. The new dances are a perfect example... Pop Art itself may mean little to the average man, but its vocabulary...is always familiar.

21. ^ Bill Lamb, "What Is Pop Music? A Definition" Archived 2005-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, About.com, retrieved 8 March 2012 quotation:

> It is tempting to confuse pop music with popular music. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the musicologist's ultimate reference resource, identifies popular music as the music since industrialization in the 1800s that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class. This would include an extremely wide range of music from vaudeville and minstrel shows to heavy metal. Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock 'n roll revolution of the mid-1950s and continues in a definable path to today.

22. ^ John Storey. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, pp. 4–8.
23. ^ Sérgio Campos Gonçalves, "Cultura e Sociedade de Consumo: um olhar em retrospecto", InRevista – Núcleo de Produção Científica em Comunicação – UNAERP (Ribeirão Preto), vol. 3, pp. 18–28, 2008, ISSN 1980-6418.
24. ^ Robert Weimann [de], Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition (1967)
25. ^ Robert Shaughnessy, The Cambridge companion to Shakespeare and popular culture (2007) p. 24.
26. ^ Danesi, Marcel (2018). Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives. TAMU Libraries: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 6, 7. ISBN 978-1538107447.
27. ^ On the Ambiguity of the Three Wise Monkeys A. W. Smith Folklore, Vol. 104, No. 1/2 (1993), pp. 144–150.
28. ^ Lyotard, Jean-François (1979). La condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir. Paris: Minuit.
29. ^ Adorno, Theordor; Horkheimer, Max (2002). "Enlightenment as Mass Decption". Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 106\. ISBN 0-8047-3633-2.
30. ^ Adorno & Horkheimer: Dialectic of Enlightenment. p. 100.
31. ^ Held, D. (1980). Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas. Berkeley, University of California Press.
32. ^ Ross, Alex (8 September 2014). "The Naysayers". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on Aug 2, 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
33. ^ Zipes, J. (2002). Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter. p. 175.
34. ^ Baudrillard. J. (1998). The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. p. 80.
35. ^ Genosko, Gary; Bryx, Adam (July 2004). "The Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard". International Journal of Baudrillard Studies. 1 (2). ISSN 1705-6411. Archived from the original on 2020-04-04. Retrieved 2020-04-11.
36. ^ Lee Artz (2015). Global Entertainment Media: A Critical Introduction. 167–175.
37. ^ Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry Tanner Mirrlees . Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016. 336 pp.
38. ^ Sayre, Shay; Cynthia King (2010). Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts, and Innovations (2nd ed.). Oxon, New York: Routledge. p. 31.
39. ^ McChesney, Robert (2013). Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy. New York: The New Press.
40. ^ Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.
41. ^ Srnicek, N (2017). Platform Capitalism.
42. ^ "Amnesty International. (2023). "This is what we die for": Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt. London: Amnesty International Ltd". 2023.
43. ^ bell hooks: https://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated Archived 2021-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
44. ^ bell hooks. Beyoncé's Lemonade is capitalist money-making at its best Archived 2021-07-28 at the Wayback Machine. Guardian. 2016
45. ^ Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. 1988. pp. 19–20. Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman
46. ^ John M. MacKenzie. Imperialism and Popular Culture. 1986, Manchester University Press 155
47. ^ Danesi, Marcel (2018). Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives. TAMU Libraries: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 112\. ISBN 978-1538107447.
48. ^ Danesi, Marcel (2018). Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives. TAMU Libraries: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 157\. ISBN 978-1538107447.
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## References

[edit]

* Ashby, LeRoy. "The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch," OAH Magazine of History, 24 (April 2010), 11–14.
* Ashby, LeRoy. With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture since 1830 (2006).
* Moritz Baßler [de]: Der deutsche Pop-Roman. Die neuen Archivisten (The German Pop-Novel. The new archivists), C.H. Beck, München 2002, ISBN 3-406-47614-7.
* Bakhtin, M. M. and Michael Holquist, Vadim Liapunov, Kenneth Brostrom (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (University of Texas Press Slavic Series). Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press.
* Browne, Ray B. and Pat Browne, eds. The Guide to U.S. Popular Culture (2001), 1010 pages; essays by experts on many topics.
* Burke, Peter. "Popular Culture Reconsidered," Storia della Storiografia 1990, Issue 17, pp. 40–49.
* Freitag, Sandria B. "Popular Culture in the Rewriting of History: An Essay in Comparative History and Historiography," Journal of Peasant Studies, 1989, Vol. 16 Issue 3, pp. 169–198.
* Gans, Herbert J. Popular Culture and High Culture: an Analysis and Evaluation of Taste. New York: Basic Books, 1974. xii, 179 p. ISBN 0-465-06021-8
* Gerson, Stéphane. "' A World of Their Own': Searching for Popular Culture in the French Countryside," French Politics, Culture and Society, Summer 2009, Vol. 27 Issue 2, pp. 94–110
* Golby, J. M. and A.W. Purdue, The civilisation of the crowd: popular culture in England, 1750–1900 (1985) online
* Griffin, Emma. "Popular Culture in Industrializing England," Historical Journal, (2002) 45#3 pp. 619–635. online Archived 2018-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, Historiography
* Hassabian, Anahid (1999). "Popular", Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, eds.: Horner, Bruce and Swiss, Thomas. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-21263-9.
* Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, 2016: Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific: Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney, New York: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-54264-9.
* Knight, Robert H. The Age of Consent: the Rise of Relativism and the Corruption of Popular Culture. Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing Co., 1998. xxiv, 253, [1] p. ISBN 1-890626-05-8
* Ross, Andrew. No Respect: Intellectuals & Popular Culture. New York: Routledge, 1989. ix, 269 p. ISBN 0-415-90037-9 (pbk.)
* Seabrook, John. NoBrow : the culture of marketing the marketing of culture, New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40504-6.
* Storey, John (2006). Cultural theory and popular culture. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-13-197068-7.
* Stoykov, Lubomir (January 2014). "Politics and pop culture. Celebrity and communicative perspectives of the modern politician". Media and Social Communications (19). The University of National and World Economy/Alma communication. Archived from the original on 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
* Swirski, Peter (2010). Ars Americana Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3766-8.
* Swirski, Peter (2005). From Lowbrow to Nobrow. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3019-5.
* On Religion and Popular Culture

## Further reading

[edit]

* Duncan, Barry (1988). Mass Media and Popular Culture. Toronto, Ont.: Harcourt, Brace & Co. Canada. ISBN 0-7747-1262-7.
* Rosenberg, Bernard, and David Manning White, joint. eds. Mass Culture: the Popular Arts in America. [New York]: Free Press of Glencoe, 1957.
* Cowen, Tyler, "For Some Developing Countries, America's Popular Culture Is Resistible". The New York Times, 22 February 2007, sec. C, p. 3.
* Furio, Joanne, "The Significance of MTV and Rap Music in Popular Culture". The New York Times, 29 December 1991, sec. VI, p. 2.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Popular culture at Wikimedia Commons
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* The dictionary definition of popular culture at Wiktionary

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