Popular Culture
The Functionalist approach sees pop culture as a potentially unifying social force. From this perspective, people are seen as coming together around their appreciation for pop culture. We take part in collective “rituals” which produce a kind of collective joy and unity (“collective effervescence”) that is necessary for solidarity in societies that are often divided.
Critical Theorists, on the other hand, see popular culture as a potential source of social control. Following Gramsci, and informed by the history of European fascism, they see pop culture as either
a) distraction of the masses from the nature of their oppression
b) a combination of coercion and consent that could (re)produce fascism.
They emphasize the mindlessness, emotion and joyfulness alongside a disturbing anti-intellectualism. Using specific evidence/ examples and detail from lecture and readings, write an essay in which you detail
a) the functionalists’ approach to pop culture
b) the critical theorists’ approach to pop culture
c) which you find more compelling/ convincing and why.
There is a fundamental divide in debates about pop culture. On one side, there are those who argue that pop culture opens up a space for more freedom. We are able to produce our own content and express our individuality more freely by circumventing “gatekeepers”.
They also argue that diversity is a hallmark of pop culture which is constantly hybridizing, inventing and producing new forms of culture. On the other side are those who argue that pop culture is increasingly controlled by fewer, massive media conglomerates thereby limiting diversity of opinion, thought and culture.
Using specific evidence/ examples and detail from lecture and readings, write an essay in which you detail each of these perspectives as well as which you find more compelling/ convincing and why.
Karl Marx argues that commodities have become “fetishized.” What does he mean by this? How does this relate to other aspects of his worldview (e.g. ideology, “superstructure,” etc.)? Lastly, what does it have to do with pop culture?
Numerous scholars of pop culture have argued that there is a difference between “high(brow)” culture and “low(brow)” culture (or pop culture). They (e.g. critical theorists) sometimes argue that pop culture is necessarily oppressive and of poor quality.
Raymond Williams resists these conceptions of culture and posits his own conception of pop culture. How does Raymond Williams understand culture in general and pop culture, in particular? What makes culture “good” or “bad” for Raymond Williams?