POPULAR CULTURE & DIVERSITY
2020 – 2021
SAMENVATTING
MARION WASSERBAUER
INTRODUCTION
Aims of this course:
Take popular culture seriously
Investigate relationship between popular culture, media, diversity
HOW: cultural studies approach, theoretical texts analyze popular culture
Why popular culture & diversity?
PC is all around us, we interact with it constantly
Reflection of society
Interaction with social issues & current affairs
Critically engage with production, tekst & reception of popular culture
Study guide:
Objectives
o Be familiar with theory & research
o Be sensitive to issues of diversity
o Be able to independently analyse PC
o Read & discuss original texts
Course content
o Theoretical foundation
o Circuit of culture: production, text, reception
o Examples and cases
Teaching method & materials
o Theoretical lecture: read texts (Blackboard)
o Theory applied: discussion of case studies
o Group discussion/assignment
o Home assignment: listen/watch/read
o Powerpoint on Blackboard
1
, Evaluation
o Paper & exam
o Language: English, but Dutch possible
o 6 credits
Paper (10 points)
o 3500-word essay: analysis of one specific case
o Popular media culture
o Search literature
o Circuit of culture model
o Focus on diversity
o Implications of digitisation
o Topic proposal: 14 Oktober 12 AM (noon)
o Deadline: 6 January 2021 12 AM (noon)
o Only electronic version (blackboard)
o Follow reference style
Written exam (10 points)
o Question on theories/concepts: explain and/or illustrate
o Question on texts: understanding
EXPLORING THE TOPIC
Can you give me examples of popular culture?
o Often called media culture: focus of this course
o Examples: film, radio, television, magazines, music, internet sites e.g. YouTube and Instagram
What is culture?
o Difficult: broad field
o Popular culture does not have very clear boundaries, there is great diversity
o Media/popular culture: we think about the mass media, which is going to be mostly the
focus of this course
o Processes of meaning, production & circulation
o Definition of popular culture: we need to look at what ‘culture’ actually means see further
In a way, anything around us can be culture OR is culture a very special thing?
2
, High vs. low culture: hierarchical
o High culture: arts, literature, philosophy, …
o Low culture: popular culture, mass culture, media culture
o There is a distinction between high & low BUT in this course, we want to ask ourselves how
relevant this distinction is in 2020 and if the hierarchical thinking still exists
What is popular culture?
o Different elements
Large audience, many people like it
Subcultures, e.g. Punk Culture, is also classified as popular culture but isn’t
liked by many people. Is large audience a good definition?
Low culture
The Mona Lisa is high culture BUT liked by a large audience
Low culture is based on an aesthetic judgement. It is seen as less good while
high culture is seen as original and complex.
When we think about popular culture there is always a kind of evaluation
involved
Industrially produced
Productions on a large scale
Linked to the negative connotations of mass culture
Mass productions lowers the art & taste and is seen as the opposition of the
artist; the individual creator
It is the culture of common people
Common people = class distinction
Higher classes might be traditionally associated with high culture
Common people = lower education level, lower in come, … which results in a
linkage to popular culture
Folk culture = popular culture from the past
The idea is linked to a certain nostalgia, things used to be better in the past
and we see a decline through popular culture
WE DO NOT have a fixed definition yet, but we will investigate all these different
characteristics
3
, Findings
o Tastes differ
Taste is often linked to age, gender, …
There is no objectivity in judging a popular culture product
o The criteria are hard to define
o Social pressure
If everyone around is obsessed with a specific tv series, we will watch this series as
well
Quality: hierarchies
Think about music genres. How would you classify them?
o Different music genres: jazz, rock, indie, …
o Criteria we might apply:
Authenticity
Commercial – how commercial are these different genres?
E.g. Lady Gaga vs. Nirvana – why is one artist better than the other? Why is one more
mainstream and the other underground? Which one is defined as popular culture?
What’s good?
o = difficult question
o There are no fixed criteria
o It is not the same for everyone: taste
What we consider good depends on taste, which is partly subjective
BUT taste ≠ completely individual. It is a link through class, education, … this
judgement is not natural; a lot is based on how and where we grew up
o It is not completely individual: social
o It is not natural: learned
o It is not the same everywhere: culturally specific
E.g. different kinds of cinema are popular in different countries
o It is not the same all the time: historically specific
E.g. jazz was in the beginning seen as bad and low culture, but is now considered as
fancy and high culture
4
2020 – 2021
SAMENVATTING
MARION WASSERBAUER
INTRODUCTION
Aims of this course:
Take popular culture seriously
Investigate relationship between popular culture, media, diversity
HOW: cultural studies approach, theoretical texts analyze popular culture
Why popular culture & diversity?
PC is all around us, we interact with it constantly
Reflection of society
Interaction with social issues & current affairs
Critically engage with production, tekst & reception of popular culture
Study guide:
Objectives
o Be familiar with theory & research
o Be sensitive to issues of diversity
o Be able to independently analyse PC
o Read & discuss original texts
Course content
o Theoretical foundation
o Circuit of culture: production, text, reception
o Examples and cases
Teaching method & materials
o Theoretical lecture: read texts (Blackboard)
o Theory applied: discussion of case studies
o Group discussion/assignment
o Home assignment: listen/watch/read
o Powerpoint on Blackboard
1
, Evaluation
o Paper & exam
o Language: English, but Dutch possible
o 6 credits
Paper (10 points)
o 3500-word essay: analysis of one specific case
o Popular media culture
o Search literature
o Circuit of culture model
o Focus on diversity
o Implications of digitisation
o Topic proposal: 14 Oktober 12 AM (noon)
o Deadline: 6 January 2021 12 AM (noon)
o Only electronic version (blackboard)
o Follow reference style
Written exam (10 points)
o Question on theories/concepts: explain and/or illustrate
o Question on texts: understanding
EXPLORING THE TOPIC
Can you give me examples of popular culture?
o Often called media culture: focus of this course
o Examples: film, radio, television, magazines, music, internet sites e.g. YouTube and Instagram
What is culture?
o Difficult: broad field
o Popular culture does not have very clear boundaries, there is great diversity
o Media/popular culture: we think about the mass media, which is going to be mostly the
focus of this course
o Processes of meaning, production & circulation
o Definition of popular culture: we need to look at what ‘culture’ actually means see further
In a way, anything around us can be culture OR is culture a very special thing?
2
, High vs. low culture: hierarchical
o High culture: arts, literature, philosophy, …
o Low culture: popular culture, mass culture, media culture
o There is a distinction between high & low BUT in this course, we want to ask ourselves how
relevant this distinction is in 2020 and if the hierarchical thinking still exists
What is popular culture?
o Different elements
Large audience, many people like it
Subcultures, e.g. Punk Culture, is also classified as popular culture but isn’t
liked by many people. Is large audience a good definition?
Low culture
The Mona Lisa is high culture BUT liked by a large audience
Low culture is based on an aesthetic judgement. It is seen as less good while
high culture is seen as original and complex.
When we think about popular culture there is always a kind of evaluation
involved
Industrially produced
Productions on a large scale
Linked to the negative connotations of mass culture
Mass productions lowers the art & taste and is seen as the opposition of the
artist; the individual creator
It is the culture of common people
Common people = class distinction
Higher classes might be traditionally associated with high culture
Common people = lower education level, lower in come, … which results in a
linkage to popular culture
Folk culture = popular culture from the past
The idea is linked to a certain nostalgia, things used to be better in the past
and we see a decline through popular culture
WE DO NOT have a fixed definition yet, but we will investigate all these different
characteristics
3
, Findings
o Tastes differ
Taste is often linked to age, gender, …
There is no objectivity in judging a popular culture product
o The criteria are hard to define
o Social pressure
If everyone around is obsessed with a specific tv series, we will watch this series as
well
Quality: hierarchies
Think about music genres. How would you classify them?
o Different music genres: jazz, rock, indie, …
o Criteria we might apply:
Authenticity
Commercial – how commercial are these different genres?
E.g. Lady Gaga vs. Nirvana – why is one artist better than the other? Why is one more
mainstream and the other underground? Which one is defined as popular culture?
What’s good?
o = difficult question
o There are no fixed criteria
o It is not the same for everyone: taste
What we consider good depends on taste, which is partly subjective
BUT taste ≠ completely individual. It is a link through class, education, … this
judgement is not natural; a lot is based on how and where we grew up
o It is not completely individual: social
o It is not natural: learned
o It is not the same everywhere: culturally specific
E.g. different kinds of cinema are popular in different countries
o It is not the same all the time: historically specific
E.g. jazz was in the beginning seen as bad and low culture, but is now considered as
fancy and high culture
4
