An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture

Strinati, D., 1995., An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London: Routledge.

"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? Does popular culture rise up from the people 'below', or does it sink down from elites 'on high', or is it rather a question of an interaction between the two?" - pg 3

"Does the emergence of culture in commodity forms mean that criteria of profitability and marketability take precedence over quality, artistry, integrity an intellectual challenge? Or does the increasingly universal market for popular culture ensure that it is truly popular because it makes available commodities people actually want? What wins out when popular culture is manufactured industrially and sold according to the criteria of marketability and profitability - commerce or quality?" - pg 3

"Mass media like radio and film transmitted and inculcated the official ideology of the fascist state because they could be controlled centrally and broadcast to the population at large... Mass media equalled mass propaganda equalled mass repression." - pg 5 - Film can be used for more than just entertainment, it can be used to spread an ideology and reinforce regime.

"First, postmodernism is said to describe the emergence of a social order in which the importance and power of the mass media and popular culture means that they govern and shape all other forms of social relationships. The idea is that popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us." - pg 224

"To put it simply, the liberal view argued that the media held up a mirror to, and thereby reflected in a fairly accurate manner, a wider social reality. The radical rejoinder to this insisted that this mirror distorted rather than reflected reality... the media played some part in constructing our sense of social reality, and our sense of being part of this reality, It is a relatively short step from this... to the proposition that only the media can constitute our sense of reality. To return to the original metaphor, it is claimed that this mirror is now the only reality we have." - pg 224

"A crucial implication of the first point is that in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become more important, and evoke in their turn a kind of 'designer ideology'. Or as Harvey puts it: 'Images dominate narrative' (1989; pp. 341 - 348). The argument is that we increasingly consume images and signs for their own sake rather than for 'usefulness' or for the deeper values they may symbolise. We consume images and signs precisely because they are images and signs, and disregard questions of utility and value. This is evident in popular culture itself where surface and style, what things look like, and playfulness and jokes, are said to predominate at the expense of content, substance and meaning. As a result, qualities like artistic merit, integrity, seriousness, authenticity, realism, intellectual depth and strong narratives tend to be under-minded." - pg 225