Reprinted with permission from Karmacake.com

Defining what pop culture is can be as easy as saying that it is the culture of everyday life. While it is different from country to country, the mechanics of pop culture is pretty much the same, including whether it’s worthy of study. It casts a really wide net, including everything from tabloids to Hollywood films and is distributed through mass media, which gives it incredible influence.

Of all the cultures, pop culture is the most popular culture and it’s influence is unmistakable.

Where did Pop Culture Come From?

Since the Middle Ages, there has always been some aspects of culture that straddle the line between “high culture” and “pop culture” – William Shakespeare, Chaucer, Jane Austen, but pop culture as we know it today needed some specific conditions in order to give it that mass appeal.

Beginning in the 19th century, the term “popular culture” was coined to describe the culture consumed by the lower class and to distinguish it from “official culture” defined by the higher classes.

Popular Culture was seen as lesser and associated with people with poor education. However, once the Industrial Revolution hit in the 19th and 20th centuries, there was more wealth being distributed, more literacy and more money available to spend on entertainment. Railways introduced travel for pleasure, which created a market for penny fiction and before you know it, this whole cocktail comes together to create the first mass produced pop culture sensation.

What is culture?

According to sociologists, culture consists of the values, beliefs, systems of language, communication, and practices that people share in common and that can be used to define them as a collective. It includes material and non-material things and it’s largely the intangible, but arguably, the most important aspects of our social lives.

Culture is this constant dance between the things and the ideas that define societies. For example, a documentary could change the opinion of a population on the moral implications of their clothing production, which could effect what they buy and where they source it from.

Famous French sociologies Émile Durkheim believed that material and non-material aspects of culture worked together to hold societies together. It gave societies a sense of purpose and reaffirmed the culture they hold in common. Like workplace holiday parties, sporting events, Pride or going out on a Friday night – you know you’re not the only one going, you probably look forward to parts of the rituals, like the stadium hotdogs or the parade.

Is Pop Culture Worth Studying?

Ray B. Browne the founder of pop culture studies said that “Popular culture is the voice of democracy, democracy speaking and acting, the seedbed in which democracy grows,” he said in an interview in 2002 with Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture (1900 to Present). “It is the everyday world around us: the mass media, entertainments and diversions. It is our heroes, icons, rituals, everyday actions, psychology and religion — our total life picture. It is the way of living we inherit, practice and modify as we please, and how we do it. It is the dreams we dream while asleep.”

So, yes, it is worth studying. While it’s often considered a superficial or lesser type of artistic expression it is a cultural artifact the provides insight in our living history. Due to pop culture’s massive level of influence, it’s impossible to deny the impression it has on society. It can allow us to understand trends as well as examine the societal & power constructs as well as the moral implications of society and understand trends in culture.

Want to learn more? Then catch up with the latest episode of Alt.Pop.Repeat