Popular Culture

Nilanjan Chatterjee
Aug, 2019

P
opular culture is the accumulation of cultural products such as music, art, literature, fashion, dance,
film, cyber culture, television and radio that are consumed by the majority of a society's population.
Popular culture has mass accessibility and appeal. The term "popular culture" was possibly coined
in the 19th century. Traditionally, it was associated with lower classes and poor education as opposed to the
"official culture" of the upper class and was generally looked down upon. As Harry Brummett explains
in Rhetorical Dimensions of Popular Culture, pop culture involves the aspects of social life most actively
involved in by the public. As the ‘culture of the people’, popular culture is determined by the interactions
between people in their everyday activities: styles of dress, the use of slang, greeting rituals and the foods
that people eat are all examples of popular culture.

After the end of World War II, innovations in mass media led to significant cultural and social changes.
Scholars trace the origins of the rise of popular culture to the creation of the middle class generated by
the Industrial Revolution. The meaning of popular culture then began to merge with that of mass culture,
consumer culture, image culture, media culture and culture for mass consumption. Urbanization is a key
ingredient in the formation of popular culture. People who once lived in homogeneous small villages or
farms found themselves in crowded cities marked by great cultural diversity. These diverse people would
come to see themselves as ‘collective’ and ‘blur’ the cultural forms in the postmodern age.

Industrialization also brought with it mass production; developments in transportation; advancements in

building technology; increased literacy; improvements in public health; and an efficient form of commercial
printing. All of these factors contributed to the growth of popular culture. By the start of the twentieth
century, the print industry mass-produced illustrated newspapers and periodicals, as well as serialized novels
and detective stories. Newspapers served as the best source of information for a public with a growing
interest in social and economic affairs. The ideas expressed in print provided a starting point for popular
discourse on all sorts of topics. Fuelled by further technological growth, popular culture was greatly
impacted by the emerging forms of mass media throughout the twentieth century. Films, broadcast radio
and television all had a profound influence on culture.

Today however, popular culture encompasses the most immediate and contemporary aspects of our lives.
These aspects are often subject to rapid change, especially in a highly technological world in which people
are brought closer and closer by omnipresent media. Certain standards and commonly held beliefs are
reflected in pop culture. Yet, two opposing sociological arguments in relation to popular culture cannot be
ignored. One argument is that popular culture is used by the elites who tend to control the mass media in
order to control those below them. The second argument is just the opposite. It says that popular culture is
a vehicle for rebellion against the culture represented by the Victorian canons. We also find that Gramsci's
concept of hegemony envisages popular culture as a battle-field of social forces manufacturing consent.
In his Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, John Storey offers six different definitions of popular culture.
In one definition, Storey describes mass or popular culture as "a hopelessly commercial culture [that is]
mass-produced for mass consumption [by] a mass of non-discriminating consumers.” Moreover, popular
culture is seen as a phenomenon that prioritises giving pleasure as an immediate goal.
With these fundamental aspects in mind, popular culture may be defined as the product and form of
expression and identity that are frequently encountered or widely accepted, commonly liked or approved,
and characteristic of a particular society at a given time. Ray Browne in his essay ‘Folklore to Populore’
offers a similar definition: “Popular culture consists of the aspects of attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, customs,
and tastes that define the people of any society. Popular culture is, in the historic use of term, the culture of
the people.”

Popular culture allows large heterogeneous masses of people to identify themselves collectively. It unites
the masses on ideals of acceptable forms of behaviour. Further, popular culture, unlike folk and high culture,
provides individuals with a chance to change the prevailing sentiments and norms of behaviour. So popular
culture appeals to people because it provides opportunities for both individual happiness and communal
bonding.

Sports and TV are generally considered to be the most popular forms of popular culture. Sports is played
and watched by members of all social classes, but the masses are primarily responsible for the huge
popularity of sports. Some sporting events, such as the World Cup and the Olympics, are watched by the
entire world. It forms a major part of many people’s lives. Showing allegiance to a team as a means of self-
identification is a common feature of popular culture.

Many people watch numerous hours of television everyday. It is such a prevalent aspect of contemporary
culture it is difficult to imagine life without it. There are those who believe TV has made people dumb and
has given rise to couch-potato syndrome. We all are aware of the harmful effects of too much televiewing
yet can we really envisage a world without TV? Many experts are of the opinion that if we allow the TV to
rule our lives we cannot in any way stop the tsunami of popular culture affecting us in the 21st century.

Pop culture is the culture of the people and is accessible to the masses. High culture, on the other hand, is
not for mass consumption nor is it readily available to everyone. It belongs to the social elite. The fine arts,
theatre, opera, other intellectual pursuits — are associated with the upper class and require proper training
to be appreciated. Leslie Fiedler talks of the crossing over from ‘high’ to ‘low’ culture, but elements from
this realm hardly do that. However, in music, cinema and other forms of art we have seen various
experiments trying to amalgamate these two forms. Indian classical music and dance are sometimes
presented as a medley with more popular forms of both. While their acceptance is still a matter of debate
still their existence proves a conscious effort to bring the two diverse forms together.

Notwithstanding such experiments popular culture culture is usually distinguished from folk and high
culture. In some ways, folk culture is similar to pop culture because of the mass participation involved in it.
The songs of the ‘baul’ are enjoyed not by the social elite but by common ordinary people. Folk culture,
however, represents the traditional way of doing things. It generally resists change and is therefore
considered as static. Still in Bengali folk songs of today we find numerous contemporary affairs, problems,
and confusions making their way and proving that what is thought as two disparate forms are actually
overlapping into one another’s territory.

Yet there is an important difference between these two forms. Generally speaking, folk culture is made up
of an aesthetics of denial of all commodification. Group members are expected to conform to traditional
modes of behaviour approved by the community. It is also unaffected by the economy and the market. But
the rules of profit- making regulating all fields of production and distribution also regulates popular culture.
Because of this, popular culture often represents an intrusion and a challenge to folk culture. Occasionally,
some elements of folk culture find their way into pop culture. Generally, when items of folk culture are
appropriated and marketed by the popular culture, the folk items lose their original form as exemplified by
a group of singers singing ‘urban folk’ in India today.
This, in short is the nature, scope and definition of popular culture.