Hello and Welcome!
Today, I would like to talk about the chapter entitled, "What is Popular Culture?" from the book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (2015) by John Storey.
John Storey is
Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the Centre for Research in Media and
Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland, UK. He has published widely
on cultural theory, popular culture, consumption and utopianism. He is the
author of numerous books on the topics of Cultural Studies, Popular Culture,
and Consumerism.
WHAT THE CHAPTER IS ABOUT?
The chapter explores the complex and contested definitions of popular culture, highlighting its ever-shifting meaning depending on its relationship with other cultural forms like high, mass, folk, and dominant cultures. The text argues that popular culture is not a fixed entity but rather an "empty conceptual category" filled by various interpretations shaped by context and theoretical frameworks. It examines different approaches to understanding popular culture, including perspectives rooted in mass culture theory, Gramscian hegemony, and postmodernism, emphasizing the interplay of ideology and power relations within cultural practices. Ultimately, the chapter positions the study of popular culture as a crucial means of examining the construction of everyday life and the underlying power dynamics that shape it, stressing the importance of contextual analysis in understanding cultural meaning.
KEY TERMS
Culture:
According to Raymond Williams culture is (1) a general process
of intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic development; (2) a particular way of
life of a people, period, or group; and (3) the works and practices of
intellectual and artistic activity.
Ideology:
A system of ideas, often serving to conceal, distort,
or mask underlying power relations. It can also be seen as the way texts
present particular images of the world.
Popular Culture:
A contested term, generally referring to the cultural
products and practices that are widely consumed and enjoyed by many people.
High Culture:
Cultural products and practices considered to be of
superior aesthetic or intellectual quality, often associated with the elite
classes.
Mass Culture:
Commercially produced cultural products designed for
mass consumption, often criticised for being formulaic and manipulative.
Folk Culture:
Culture originating from "the people,"
often seen as authentic and oppositional to dominant culture.
Hegemony:
The process by which dominant groups in society seek
to win the consent of subordinate groups through intellectual and moral
leadership.
Postmodernism:
A cultural and intellectual movement that challenges
traditional distinctions between high and low culture, authenticity and
commercialism.
Co-texts:
The other texts that make a particular text fully
meaningful
Americanisation:
The influence of American culture on other countries,
often seen as a homogenising force.
False Consciousness:
The state of being unable to see how the world really
works due to the masking of ideology.
Signifying Practices:
Texts and practices whose principal function is to
signify, to produce or to be the occasion for the production of meaning.
Base/Superstructure:
The Marxist idea that the way a society organizes the
means of its material production will have a determining effect on the type of
culture that society produces or makes possible.
Binary Relationship:
A pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning, for example freedom and unfreedom.
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