Popular+Culture

Popular Culture

__Study of popular culture began with the "Frankfurt School of Social Research" __
The Frankfurt School began in the 1920's and consisted of a group of philosophers, sociologists, and literary theorists at the University of Frankfurt.Their main ideas known as critical theory blended Marxist theory with psychoanalysis. Marxist principle: Life was a struggle between the bourgeoisie (land owners) and proletariat (working-class). The bourgeoisie used cultural institutions to promote ideas that kept them in power and oppressed the proletariat.

**Key Terms/Ideas:**

 * Hegemony- strategies, ideas, and beliefs promoted by a dominant class to manufacture consent among subordinate classes; absolute and unquestioned
 * Culture Industries- tools of the dominant class used to standardize art and culture--constrain critical thought; control the masses

__Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies __
The British Cultural Studies came about in the 1950's in response to Leavism. Leavism was a movement advocating for literary exclusion of modern, popular works. The founders of the cultural studies believed the literary work of the elite was not the only source for valuable knowledge. They looked to celebrate the every day culture of the working class which held its own value.


 * Key Ideas : **
 * Popular culture is found in every day activities of the working class
 * tool for celebration and resistance

**__John Docker __**

 * Follows a postmodern approach to popular culture.
 * The relationship between popular culture and audience isn't easy to define
 * The motivations of the audience aren't clear, but complicated
 * Concerned with:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Many forms and genres
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Many ideas of aestheticism
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Respect for how different genres have interacted, conflicted, and the contested histories of them
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Popular culture contains many conflicting and sometimes contradictory roles. Students should be able to explore these roles to be better consumers and producers of popular culture.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Popular culture can be used in the classroom to affirm and celebrate student's non-school lives.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">popular culture defined in relation to other cultures in society i.e. folk culture, mass culture, dominant culture
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6 Definitions of Popular Culture:
 * 1) Culture that is well-liked by many people
 * 2) What remains after defining high culture
 * 3) Is mass culture
 * 4) Culture originating from people
 * 5) Inspired by neo-Gramsican hegemony theory
 * 6) Can view from the post-modernism lens where there is no distinction between high and popular culture

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">__Educational Uses__

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">should be used in education to educate youth
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">counter hegemonic curriculum by explicitly teaching challenges to dominant norms, practices, and assumptions that are detrimental to an audience; increases student motivation when relevant to youth
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">consumption and production of popular culture involves challenging intellectual activities i.e. critical thinking, technological skills...
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Critical teaching necessary to teach and integrate popular culture into learning
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Critical media literacy creates informed and engaged citizens
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"widens the circle" of content that is taught in classrooms--can be used to connect home and school knowledge

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Relevancy to adolescents __

 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">quantitatively--amount of involvement with popular culture
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">thematically--topics and themes in popular culture
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">central role in youth definition of self
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">adult view youth interactions with popular culture as bad for self-esteen and value formation
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">provides a means of connecting with students and having students connect with content
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Critical pedagogy allows students to define themselves on their own terms as opposed to being defined by dominant forces in society

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I found a link on a popular culture website that focuses on LGTB, it doesn't necessarily define what popular culture is but it sheds light into young teens ideas:

[]
 * Does that mean everything has changed for LGBT kids, that society – and young people in particular – has moved beyond homophobic thinking and is busily producing safe, well-adjusted, out-and-proud youngsters? The answer is a complex one, judging from Debra Chasnoff's excellent documentary **Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up.** Chasnoff is the Oscar-winning director of **Deadly Deception** (1991) and a film that rattled many a right-wing cage, **It's Elementary — Talking about Gay Issues in School** (1996) along with its follow-up, **It's Still Elementary** (2007).

Here is a great website that defines all aspects of popular culture and gives a background for each strand:

[]

__Popular Culture and Music__

 * provides a forum for people to express themselves and share that with others--others seek out music they can relate to/find themselves in
 * is more than the Billboard Top 40--includes all different genres
 * culture/business of music provides a relevant context to teach academic content--allows students to connect with content in a way that is impossible through teaching content alone

<span style="color: #af2c2c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Teen Interviews: Pop Culture & Literacy-by Michelle Accorso
Through interviewing a select group of 16-18 year olds in a Rochester urban school setting, I was able to find out exactly what they're watching, listening to, and interested in. Their banter with each other, their knowledge of the subjects and their interest in what they were talking about was apparent. Each student articulated their point effectively and demonstrated their adolescent literacy through media, interest-based research and communication. Below is a link to the video of these students: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m7FqF2lKr_w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>