Theories of Popular Culture-Mass Cultural Theory

Theories of Popular Culture-Mass Cultural Theory

A person’s identity is influenced by culture. When people from various cultures come together, intercultural interactions are created. Intercultural interactions occurred following industrialization and urbanization. Society is brimful with popular culture, begging the question, “what is popular culture?” According to OpenStax 2017, “popular culture refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society.” Accordingly, popular culture entails several aspects of society, including events such as games, music such as pop, and media such as television films. With this in mind, it is essential to point out that people from different social classes influence and are influenced by popular culture without bias; therefore, it is adamant about addressing the source of popular culture, its theories, and its impacts on society.

People are the source of culture, it being their way of life. Consistently, popular culture is characterized by high appeal and mass accessibility in society. Further, to establish the source of popular culture, the definition of popular culture will vary based on various theories. According to Mass Cultural Theory, popular culture is defined as a culture heavily influenced by the commercial culture following industrialization and urbanization (Strinati, 2005). Based on the mass cultural theory, society is portrayed as one containing atomization, whereby people interact solely as atoms in a compound, chemical or physical while lacking any other form of meaningful interaction. Consequently, without proper relationships between people, they are pushed to identify with commercialized materials and culture.

According to mass cultural theory, the determinant of popular culture is profit. Mass culture is produced from industrialization and urbanization with profits in mind (Atabek & Nurnazar, 2021). The people and their culture are only influenced by what is manufactured, giving opportunities to people in power to manipulate them and their culture (Atabek & Nurnazar, 2021). The consequence is a mass society, where aspects of life, including education, are influenced by the large mass of people accepting it readily. Further, as people accept the social norms of their mass society, people in positions of power provide and manufacture these norms (Venkateswaran et al., 2019). Accordingly, it is apparent that people do not influence popular culture by expressing themselves but by the culture being imposed on them.

The mass culture theory illustrates how commercialization and industrialization influence popular culture. Mass culture theory points to two major aspects of popular culture: the profits from commercialization and industrialization and the mass market, made up of members of society. The material produced or cultures and cultural objects manufactured through industrialization and sold through commercialization influence popular culture, including phones and films (Kondakov, 2017). Despite the mass production of culture as a commodity, certain aspects of culture, such as art and artistry, cannot be superseded by profitability and marketability. However, in other aspects, profitability and marketability take precedence over quality, integrity, and intellectual challenge (Strinati, 2005).

Consistently, profits from commercialization and industrialization benefit only those in power. The people manipulating mass culture for their advantage in the form of profits leave the atomized society further drained of traditional cultural attributes and morals (Storey, 2018). The lack of qualities of people in society leaves them exposed and vulnerable to manipulation for profit. This profit affects the quality and integrity of production since society’s moral fiber has been stripped from it (Kuznetsova et al., 2015). Accordingly, the items or objects produced under mass culture cannot be compared to another given form of culture, such as folk culture, since it was already been replaced. However, despite the production of mass culture, aspects such as art cannot be superseded by profits because they do not comply with the regular manufacturing process of mass culture. Subsequently, this points to the lack of intellectual properties in society because the people are considered atoms without any personal traits such as morals (Strinati, 2005). Consequently, whatever is produced does not have an impact on quality to provide better quality but is solely for business interests through profits. For instance, Christmas is a mass culture product that sees members of society splurging on decorations and gifts, among other aspects.

Consequently, popular culture has numerous impacts on society. First, it gives more power to those who produce its components. This production through media sources such as television and radio gives those producing and manufacturing more power to control culture and manipulate people and their ideologies (Storey, 2018). All this power is accompanied by business profits, benefiting that aspect of members of society. Second, the mass population accepting mass culture is manipulated by being provided with manufactured cultures and objects. Once manufactured, people lacking a cultural identity identify with the mass culture produced, and they subsequently adhere to and accept what is produced, including values and ideologies (Kuznetsova et al., 2015). Subsequently, those in power can control them, and thus, popular culture is a means through which a dominant group, those with power, exercises control of society.

Per the stipulated, it is evident that mass cultural theory paints popular culture as manipulation by people in power over a mass population. Further, this theory has several weaknesses and strengths. The strength of mass culture theory involves the portrayal of morality and material needs or acceptance in society. The weaknesses include overvaluing the elite and the past while undervaluing the commoners and the present; folk cultures are highly valued while the culture at present is overlooked, and it does not recognize change, cultural or social, by solely focusing on what appears to be mass culture (Strinati, 2005). These weaknesses indicate the objections of the mass cultural theory by questioning the basis of the theory, including the part elites play in popular or pop culture, the highly valued past culture, while culture evolves as people evolve and grouping individuals as a mass while society is made of individuals, each one unique in their own way (Kuznetsova et al., 2015).

In conclusion, the definition of popular culture varies depending on the theories used to interpret it. While defining popular culture under the mass cultural theory, popular culture is defined as a mass culture that is manufactured for a mass population. Based on this theory, popular culture is produced for profit in a society lacking cultural identity and morals. Subsequently, this theory has multiple weaknesses, from the elites to society’s portrayal.

References

Atabek, S., & Nurnazar, P. (2021). The Phenomenon of Mass Culture. Zienjournals.com. Retrieved from https://zienjournals.com/index.php/zjssh/article/view/19.

Kondakov, I. (2017). Mass Culture: The Experience of the Theory of Relativity. Observatory Of Culture, 14(5), 516-523. https://doi.org/10.25281/2072-3156-2017-14-5-516-523

Kuznetsova, E., Goryacheva, O., & Patenko, G. (2015). The phenomenon of Mass Culture: Problems and Controversies. Mediterranean Journal Of Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s2p296

OpenStax (2017). Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, Texas: Rice University.

Storey, J. (2018). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (8th ed.). Routledge.

Venkateswaran, D., Sabarirajan, D., Rajest, S., & Regin, R. (2019). The Theory of the Postmodernism in Consumerism, Mass Culture and Globalization. Retrieved 22 May 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Regin-Rajan/publication/337632982_The_Theory_of_the_Postmodernism_in_Consumerism_Mass_Culture_and_Globalization/links/5e64e1d592851c7ce04f6448/The-Theory-of-the-Postmodernism-in-Consumerism-Mass-Culture-and-Globalization.pdf. inati, D. (2005). An introduction to theories of popular culture (2nd ed.). Routledge.

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For this assignment, you will provide a detailed discussion of a theory of pop culture and provide a critical discussion of this theory. The purpose of this assignment is to help you hone your critical thinking skills. You will provide exposition and criticism of a theory of pop culture. You may choose either Mass Cultural Theory or Critical Theory.

Theories of Popular Culture-Mass Cultural Theory

Your essay should include some discussion of the following questions:

1. What or who determines popular culture? Where does popular culture come from? Does it emerge from the people themselves as an autonomous expression of their interests and modes of experience, or is it imposed from above by those in positions of power as a type of social control?

2. Describe how commercialization and industrialization influence popular culture. Does reducing culture to commodity mean that the criteria of profitability and marketability take precedence over quality, artistry, integrity, and intellectual challenge? Or does it result in a universal market where what is popular actually corresponds to what people want and think is valuable? Does marketability and profitability actually produce quality art or does it only benefit business interests?

3. Is popular culture used to control and indoctrinate the people? Is it used to get people to accept and adhere to ideas and values that will ensure the continued dominance of a particular elite and allow them to exercise power over them? Or is popular culture about rebellion and opposition to the prevailing social order? Is pop culture a spontaneous, genuine burst of creativity or is it just a means through which a dominant group exercises control of society?

4. After you provide an accurate account of one of these theories of pop culture, you should then review the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. Can you identify some objections to the theory? You can research objections, but you need to consult reputable sources.

Specifications:

In your essay:

Be sure to structure your essay with an introduction paragraph that includes a thesis statement, well-organized supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion that reiterates the main points of your argument.
Your argument should be supported by reputable research cited in APA format both in the body of the paper and in your references section.
Search for scholarly research sources ONLY