You will notice that the phrase is made from separable units: popular, and culture. Popular, i think, expresses the essential character of a high tech, media dominated age. Hence, by popular culture, i do not mean a culture everyone likes as common usage would have it shes the most popular gal in grade nine!. If the media are correct, this is emphatically not the character of popular culture. No: pop culture is a popular one because it addresses itself to and thereby captivates the attention of the people.

Every day each person is addressed by cultural institutions television for instance which assume as their audience nothing short of the collective man. It is the nature of popular culture to get into ones daily life, whether discussions, chat, entertainment, or sex. And it does not matter who one is, popular culture makes few rhetorical distinctions, for we are all of the people.

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Innovations in technology guarantee that this will be the case not only in north america, but increasingly also in for examples tokyo, paris, and beijing, each of which is becoming increasingly americanised. Another way of saying this: the world is increasingly adopting the trappings of mass produced popular culture, a culture of the people. By culture i intend those instituted actions and objects expressing that which is held in high esteem.

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For the public articulation of personal beliefs is never free from institutional mediation, such as when a newspaper reporter elicits our private opinion of the conservative harris agenda, using carefully worded questions. Culture does not issue from a vacuum, and not even from the sincere, spontaneous expression of an individual. Culture is the institutionally determined expression of values: admirable actions, appropriate behaviours, moral codes of conduct, aesthetic tastes, religious orthodoxies.

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And let us not forget perversions and heresies as well for a culture, if it is to be vibrant, must somehow appropriate to itself that which issues a threatening challenge or a deplored variation. The language in which we express that which is held in high esteem will be necessarily variegated not the queens english certainly, but a jostling creole, what mikhail bakhtin called heteroglossia, or differing tongues. Culture is a grab bag of contending but mostly peacefully coexisting perceptions and representations of the world and of our place within it. The strength of a culture is therefore to be judged by the ability or relative inability of its institutions to respect diversity while representing to its constituents a public: that is, a collective self image, construed more or less as a people. Aristocracies accomplish this by appealing to the metaphor of the body politic, of which the king serves as head, and we ordinary folk presumably as toes, elbows, and the like. Our tastes however, inclining as they do toward democratic models, are supposedly gratified not by distinctions, but by uniformity.

Hence, pop institutions labour toward the illusion that, whatever our superficial peculiarities, we are all of us of a mass, sharing certain fundamental values. In an industrialised capitalist nation, the expression of that which is held in high esteem, the present definition of culture, is inextricable from the logic and ends of capitalism. That is why capitalist differ from non capitalist societies, tribal or socialist for examples, which nonetheless also conceive of themselves as a people. And i know it might sound extreme, but i suggest that everything about persons subject to capitalist social organization, including as ive earlier suggested their sex lives, is in some manner related to capitalism. Popular culture is mass produced by corporations for profit: monetary profit of course, but political and personal profit as well. The relations of culture, values and capitalism and ultimately ones personal pathway through them are ongoing negotiations between the agenda of the individual and the agenda of her cultures institutions.

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Last years attack on time warner, issued by american senate leader and republican presidential candidate bob dole, was an ostensible defence of the values of the people against those of popular culture. How does one defend the values of the people against the culture of the people? doles manoeuvre is a familiar one: he accused time warner of representing, not the people, but the elitist interests of capital. Whether dole was right to accuse time warner of disregarding the values of the people in their quest for profit i wont here explore if i did, i would have to answer a disturbing question: from whence did the profit come? , but the fact that a republican could even articulate such a critique, for indubitable political gain, is itself telling. Doles views are not peculiar his comments were greeted sympathetically by liberals and conservatives alike, amply demonstrating that popular culture is widely judged not very popular in either sense of the term: for critics contend it can today claim neither to have achieved uniform popularity in the vulgar sense nor an acceptable representation of a public that is, of a people. Of course, the common wisdom, promulgated with great self interest by the media, is that institutions are under the attack of the people also for their elitism. I suggest that such propositions however are hopelessly abstract, even if most individuals are in fact at odds with institutions and it is not clear to me that they are, for i dont know most individuals.

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You might have concluded that doles attack on popular culture represents, or even constitutes, a tear in the national fabric, but i myself doubt this. The music industry, for one, has been richly rewarded for its appropriation of rebellion and critique, whether it was the 60s youth culture or 90s gangsta rap. Establishment record companies promptly soak up the disposable income of anti establishment teens, to the apparent satisfaction of all involved. This is precisely the genius of capitalism, which swiftly commodifies fringe lunatics, malcontents, and would be subversives, the latter learning to express their politics in terms compatible with the interests of capital and being rewarded for it , or else losing their public voice if they dont. What do we learn from all of this? perhaps that doles attack was germane not because it posed a genuine threat to a cynical elite it did not , but because it asserted two fundamental truths of capitalist democracy: that pop culture institutions and the market forces which guide them play an active role in civic life, and are no less capable of moral neutrality than we are. I do think dole is correct when he suggests that our media are fundamentally anti democratic, and that he is in agreement on this point with noam chomsky only supports this conclusion.

But attacks on elitism help little, and might even distract us from more fruitful investigations. Why an issue of ash on popular culture? first, we might be instructed if we reflect on the very idea of a popular culture. Inherent in the notion is the belief that people and not only kings, or some other elite are competent to imagine, assemble, express and debate visions of their collectivity. Popular culture issues from an implicitly constructive, democratic and hopeful assessment of the human lot. Thus, if constructivism, equity, and hope are not frequent features of public discourse, or culture, we might well find this odd, and question why it is so.

We will be suspicious of the artists mantra that i am only showing what i see, which youll notice discloses a passive formulation of creativity indeed. Second, considered as a historical development, popular culture is profoundly progressive, anti elitist, and anti authoritarian. And yet popular culture too often glamourises ill gotten wealth, sexism, invidious class and race stereotypes, petty atrocities, and brutal excess. What has become of the notion that all women and men are worthy of justice, respect and dignity? doles attack, for all its hypocrisy he praised arnold schwarzenegger, a republican booster , raises important questions about the character of popular culture and its relationship to democracy. Doles jeremiad inspired the media to ask the question, what judgement have the people passed on popular culture? but i have been waiting for someone to consider another question: what judgement has popular culture passed on the people? grace jones with jimmy baio, divine, julie budd, nona hendryx and a few unnamed dancers in the ‘70s and ‘80s we all had our fun, and now and then we went really too far. But, ultimately, it required a certain amount of clear thinking, a lot of hard work and good make up to be accepted as a freak.grace jones if a single photo series could encapsulate 70s disco dust debauchery and fun this document of grace jones 30th birthday party held at lafarfelle disco in new york on june 12, 1978 would be it. Famous guests included elton john, divine, andy warhol, jerry hall, jimmy baio scott baios cousin, of course , julie budd and nona hendryx.

Can you imagine all the shit people were up to when the cameras werent flashing. elton john, andy warhol and jerry hall more after the jump pop culture is different form the high arts, because it is designed to appeal to all of. There are many excellent pop culture essay topics for high school students. If you are in high school and you want a good topic for your next paper, consider the. Ordering an analysis essay appearances count in persuasive essay finding. Feb 4, 2014 . what topics do you find yourself discussing most passionately, whether online, at the dinner table.

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Does pop culture deserve serious study?may 14, 2014 . pop culture topics. A lot of the media we are exposed to, and consume on a daily basis can have a big effect on high school and college. Imagine you have a friend who is considering taking steroids in order to bulk up for a weight lifting competition. pop culture web sites and articles about a number of topics from a professor at. How to make your persuasive essay catchy?apr 16, 2013 . these top 50 persuasive essay topics won 39 t leave anyone indifferent. Jan 25, 2007 . looking for argumentative and persuasive essay topics.