Measuring the Value of Popular Culture
What is it about that which can be characterized ‘popular culture’ or some sort of phenomena of civilization at any given time and its attraction for the masses? On the internet it may be MySpace or Facebook or Twitter. On TV it may be so-called reality shows like Survivor or Dancing with the Stars or American Idol.
Is it simply that those whose job it is to dream up money making ideas for television find a way to get millions of people to pay attention long enough to sell a great deal of advertising time? The same could be asked of internet geniuses who assemble online infrastructure to handle millions of users for who knows what valid purpose if one exists.
It may be fair to state that sporting or athletic competition in its well known forms of baseball, football, basketball, golf, tennis, racing, the Olympics and many others have helped strengthen the sense of community shared by those in participating locales. Aside from the periodic falls from grace of various sports stars as with any other celebrity group, role models and the positive outcomes from ordinary folks engaging in athletic training and competition as well as being spectators can encourage personal achievement and the development of enviable human qualities.
So what do these other popular culture phenomena have to offer? Where does MySpace, Facebook or Twitter offer some redeeming social value that trumps its obvious monetary benefit for those who control it? Certainly it is fair to say a handful of people have gained by competing on American Idol each year. And it is also fair to say that aside from the lure of a chance at great wealth they may be pursuing an honest dream to achieve a goal in the performing arts in some way. But where is that avenue for personal development with the others? Sure, you can network on social networking sites and it may possibly lead to assistance in reaching some reasonable goal like landing a job or something similar. But is that why so many are attracted to these current popular culture icons?
One Wiki definition offered for popular culture may expect too much from these ‘human activities’. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance …
Another definition from artconnected DOT org may be viewed as too critical of pop culture. The opposite of high cultural art forms, such as the opera, historic art, classical music, traditional theater or literature; popular culture …
But one from edublogs DOT org may be close. Cultural experiences widely enjoyed by members of various groups within the community.
Those definitions were simply found by using the define search on Google. But none of this answers the question of why some forms of popular culture do not appear to have any really useful value other than generating revenue. The only reason this point is raised on this blog is that it seems all the hype and talk about these current pop culture forms rests solely with the fact they are popular by virtue of the quantity of people attracted to them. How is that a measure of anything other than commercial success? How does it advance the species? How does this make us better? Is there anything about it which indicates a higher goal? Or is it just about money or being cool?
Stanford Matthews
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