What Do You Believe Culture or Popular Culture Is? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Popular culture is the collection of the cultural products such as the cyberculture, film, film, art, music, fashion, dance, literature, radio and television which are consumed by the majority of the people in the society's population. The culture has got mass accessibility and appeal to the people. In the past popular culture was connected with the poor education and lower classes as opposed to the original ethos of the upper level.

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Popular culture came up at the end of the World War II whereby creativity and innovation in mass media led to substantial social and cultural changes along the way. From then the meaning of the popular culture merged with that of image culture, media culture, consumer culture, mass culture, and culture for mass consumption. From one of the sociological argument states that popular culture is mainly used by the elites who usually tend to control the popular culture outlets and the mass media. It is primarily with an aim to control those below them due to the sense that it is empty people's minds, enabling them to be passive and easy to manage. Another sociological argument states the opposite meaning of the other case by saying that the popular culture is just a vehicle for rebellion towards the culture of the prevalent groups. John Storey in his book entitled 'cultural theory and popular culture' stated that popular culture is a predictable term and manipulative. He continued by saying that for a product or a brand to be sold to the clients it must be entrenched in a widespread or mass culture hence it the finds its position in popular culture.

Popular culture is that culture of everyone, and it is accessible to the masses. The fine arts, opera, theater and intellectual pursuits are always associated with the higher socioeconomic strata and mostly require new highbrow approach, reflection, training to be recommended. Popular culture involves the social aspects of life most actively engaged in by the public. It is also determined by the relations between the people in their everyday activities, i.e., the use of slang, style of dress, food that people usually eat, greeting rituals are all examples of the popular culture. Notably, popular culture is majorly informed by the media. Popular culture embraces the next and contemporary aspects of people's lives. The characters are usually subjects to rapid changes, like in a highly technological world in which human beings are brought closer and nearer by the omnipresent media. Popular culture usually reflects certain commonly held beliefs and standards. Due to its community, the popular culture does reflect and positively influences people's everyday life.

Popular culture comprises of the aspects of the behaviors, attitudes, customs, beliefs, and taste that define the people of various society. Notably, popular culture is usually a historical use of the term, the culture of the people. The culture usually allows a huge heterogeneous masses of people to find out collectively. It also serves as the inclusive role in the various societies as it brings together the masses on ideas of the allowed form of behavior. Furthermore, popular culture provides an individual with the opportunity to change the prevailing norms and sentiments of behavior. Also, popular culture appeals to the people since it avails opportunities for both communal bonding and individual happiness.

The examples of popular culture originate from a vast array of genres, such as the cyberculture, favorite music, sports, print, entertainment, fads, leisure television and the advertising. Television and the sports are the majorly two of the famous widely consumed examples of the popular culture, as well as they, represent two examples of the popular culture with the most staying power. Usually, sports are played and watched by people of all social classes hence some sporting events like the world cup and the Olympics are benefited by the world community at large. More so cheering for the favorite athlete, a sports team is a way of any person can become part popular culture. People do spend many hours watching television every day. It is an aspect of contemporary culture hence it is hard to imagine life without it. Certain people believe TV is majorly responsible for the dumbing down of the society that children are obsessed with watching too much of television programs can result in the epidemic of childhood obesity. Many people would agree that living in a world without television is not living to the standards hence it is even impossible to imagine a world without a popular culture.

The significant essential characteristic of the popular culture is its receptiveness to the masses hence it is as a result of the culture of the people. Moreover, popular culture is overall looked down upon as being shallow when it is related to the sophistication of the high culture. It does not mean that social elites do not take part in popular culture.

There exist numerous sources of popular culture, i.e., the primary source being the mass media, especially the internet, video games, favorite music, television, books, radio, and films. Also, advances in the communication enable for the significant transmission of the ideas by word of mouth mostly via mobile phones. The combining of the popular cultures sources presents a novel way of promoting the public interest and further enhances the mass production of commodities. Mostly the popular culture can be influenced by the professional entities that avail the public of the information. For instance, these sources include the following; scientific and scholarly publications, the news media and expert views from the people considered to be more experienced in their field. The strategy is a usually an essential way of influencing the public and May directs their collective opinions on a particular subject.

Another different source of the popular culture is the individualism. The urban culture has provided a common ground for the masses and has motivated ideas of the individualistic aspirations. Notably, in the United States, there are theoretically no limitations to what a person might accomplish. One may choose to participate in all who are accessible for popularity sake. Sometimes the Pathfinders may affect popular culture by their personality. Of course, once unfamiliar style becomes adopted by the other people in the society, it usually ceases to remain unique as a result it continues to become famous.

Conclusion

In summary, popular culture consists typically of the cultural aspects that prevail in any society majorly using popular media. Popular culture needs to attract the interest of the potential members and lure them to invest a percentage in themselves. After the World War II, a more significant shift in the popular culture has so far occurred, i.e., from the production of the culture to the consumption of those cultures.