1/26/21

CMNS 110: Introduction to

Communication Studies
Week 3: Popular Culture

Simon Fraser University

This Week

• Culture
• Rise of popular culture
• High and low culture

Transactional Model of Communication

We don’t just communicate to exchange messages;

we communicate to create relationships, shape our
communities, and construct our realities.

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Who says what, in which channel, to whom and with

what effect?
“The police’s intimidating
behaviour, led to the outbreak
of a series of clashes”

“The strikers were involved

in a series of violent acts,
and the police were forced to
contain the rioters” 4

Language and the Construction of Reality

Who says what, in which channel, to whom and with what effect?

Language and the Construction of Reality

The “dude” factor: the social function of the word “dude”

Kiesling calls this “cool solidarity”

Cool solidarity = Heterosexism + Masculine solidarity + Non-conformity

Scott Kiesling

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Language and the Construction of Reality

“Dude” points to a practice of dominant young masculinity.

In Summary
• “Meaning is made in contextualized interactions; words
and sounds are indeterminate resources that speakers
combine to perform and negotiate stances, which are
the primary focus of interaction.” (Kiesling, p. 90)
• In other words, communication is a situated practice
and not reducible to the transmission of informational
codes!
• We cannot determine whether a word, symbol, or
sounds is meaningful or meaningless (inarticulate)
without studying how it is actually used by interacting
speakers.

Reality as unstable and socially constructed

• Sociologists often talk about reality as a social construction. What they
mean is that truth, knowledge, and so on, are discovered, made known,
reinforced, and changed by members of society. As social beings, we
respond to our interpretations and definitions of situations, not to the
situations themselves, thereby shaping reality. How we distinguish fact from
fantasy, truth from fiction, myth from reality are not merely abstract
philosophical questions but are very much tied to interpersonal interaction,
group membership, culture, history, power, economics, and politics. But
not all of us possess the same ability to define reality. Individuals and groups
in positions of power have the ability to control information, define values,
create myths, manipulate events, and ultimately influence what others take
for granted. The mass media are especially influential in shaping perceptions
of reality.

• David M. Newman (2010). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday

Life. Pine Forge Press.

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Dimensions or Agents of Socialisation

Culture

• An on-going, dynamic, social process.

• A set of practices for sharing meanings that
form the basis of how we live.
• A set of codes we use to communicate about
and interpret our world.
• Shared culture enables people to communicate.

Rise of Popular Culture

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Meaning of Popular Culture

Popular Culture: Form of culture, characteristic
of 20th-century technological societies, that
emphasizes the trivial and the routine in its
artistic and various other forms of representation.
Pop culture includes television programs,
advertising, comic books, popular music (rock n’
roll, hip hop, etc.), and the like.

Meaning of Popular Culture

Popular implies…
Of the people (Positive connotation)
Mass of people (Negative connotation)

This second, connotative meaning leads to notions

of popular being defined as base, vile, riff-raff,
common, low, vulgar, cheap.

Sense of elitism

5 Historical Events which led to the Rise of

Mass/Popular Culture

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Rise of Mass Culture

1. Invention of the printing press circa1440 in Germany

by Johannes Gutenberg

Rise of Mass Culture

2. Scientific Revolution circa 1550 to late 1700

Rise of Mass Culture

3. Breakdown of the Feudal System

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Rise of Mass Culture

4. Age of Political Revolutions circa 1770-1850

Rise of Mass Culture

5. Industrial Revolution circa late 1700 to late 1800

Rise of Mass Culture

“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and

eight hours for what we will”
Worcester, Massachusetts Carpenters’
Union, 1889

Change in the work week (USA)

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Rise of Mass Culture

“What is a weekend?”

Rise of a Mass Media & Consumer Society

Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

5-cent theatres popular among working class,

immigrants, and children

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Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Rise of the Penny Press

Sensationalism: Subject matter, language, and style are to produce
startling or thrilling impressions.

Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Amusement Parks and Vaudevilles

Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Bicycling and Roller Skating

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Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Commercialisation of Sport

Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Fashion, Department Stores, Mail Order Catalogues

Rise of Mass Media and Consumer Society

Consumer Culture & Conspicuous Consumption

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High and Low Culture

High/Elite Culture Low/Mass Culture
• Public spaces and institutions • Commercial attractions and
of high culture: museums, novelties.
art galleries, libraries, concert • Movies, tabloids, street fairs
halls, gentlemen’s clubs. as part of a separate culture
• Culture defined as the for the working masses
greatest works of • Saw amusement as
civilization; a means restorative, potentially
to perfection and exposure enlightening, and liberating
to great human works,
attainable by an elite freed
from labour.
• Saw amusement as
dangerous.

High and Low Culture

High and Low Culture

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High and Low Culture

High and Low Culture

Critique of Pop Culture

• Mass culture as a means of social
control
• Hyper-consumption and
preoccupations with celebrity
culture detracts masses from
“real” issues (such as social
justice issues)
• Commercialization of our
social/cultural spaces
• Commodification of audiences
• Consumption as liberating,
therapeutic, and key to
happiness

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Critique of Pop Culture

Popular culture is often said to be synonymous

with the entertainment that comes from the large
commercial media, including television, cinema,
the music industry, and so on. This definition
focuses on consumption as the crucial defining
element of popular culture.

Critique of Pop Culture

“Popular” can mean something negative:

1. Lacking in artistic integrity on account of

having become widely appreciated.

1. Losing original authenticity on account of

having become widely appreciated -- Social
media “likes” as currency

Studying Popular Culture

Birmingham Center for Contemporary
Cultural Studies (UK, 1964-2002)

An approach to popular culture that emphasizes

techniques for analyzing cultural texts without
presuming to judge those texts according to
predetermined moral or artistic criteria.

Stuart Hall Paul Gilroy Richard Hoggart

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Studying Popular Culture

Studying Popular Culture

Studying Popular Culture

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Studying Popular Culture

Studying Popular Culture

Studying Popular Culture

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Studying Popular Culture

Next Week
• Mass Media and Media Effect
• Mass Communication & Media Effect

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