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Popular Culture Essay
Popular Culture Essay
Popular Culture Essay
Megan Monaghan
Dr. Manthey
SIGN 110
October 2017
Popular culture is any commonly shared or recognized aspect of life that defines and is
defined by the identities of the societies and individuals who consume it. Popular culture creates
a common experience which brings communities closer together. For the purpose of this essay,
identity is made up of persistent traits such as behavioral, gestural and verbal mannerisms, social
groups and statuses, practices, beliefs and physical attributes. On a societal level, identity is the
common or prevalent occurrence or practice of any of those things. Singular identity traits can be
used to group similar people or peoples, whereas the combination of many identity traits
Pop culture influences individual identities. Social learning theory states that we learn to
be ourselves from the people around us (Lahey, 9). Our experiences, especially the ones that
connect us with others, influence how we see ourselves. The more time one spends engaging in
pop culture, the more distinct and important that facet of their identity will become. As the often
quoted line from Shakespeare goes, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
players.” Pop culture provides a means for individuals to rehearse the way they present their
identities, or roles, to the world. For example, as a perfectionist and a nerd I identify with Pearl
from Steven Universe (Sugar). While Pearl and I share many traits, like a love of art history, a
habit of over explaining things, and becoming easily exasperated; occasionally even I find
Pearl’s know-it-all attitude kind of annoying. It’s made me question whether I’m a little too
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confident in what I know. Thinking about Pearl reminds me to listen more than I speak. A
cultural artifact provided a basis for me to question how my identity is perceived by others. Pop
pansexual girl, I’m drawn to shows with gender non-binary characters. Steven Universe has
become one of my favorite shows because biological sex and gender expression are seen as
separate entities. In that world, biological sex never limits who someone can be, or how they can
express themself (Sugar.) Maybe it’s just the idealistic liberal in me, but I enjoy that kind of
utopian fantasy in pop culture. (I waited a long time for that acceptance letter from Hogwarts.)
Even in harsh, gritty, dystopian or post-apocalyptic worlds, we see our own possibilities or hopes
for strength and resilience in the survivors’ heroism. We look for our best possible selves in
popular culture.
We choose the popular culture we engage with based on our identity, which is what
makes us distinct from our conception of “people in general.” Therefore, any definition of pop
Dictionary.com, a popular and widely used website which amasses easy to comprehend
definitions states that pop culture consists of “Cultural activities or commercial products
reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of general masses of people,” (“Pop Culture.”) I
disagree with this definition on the principle that people are not general. Despite whatever
heuristics one may use to make it easier to understand humanity, I know very few people who
honestly identify with “general masses of people.” Those that do are under the misguided, but
common assumption that people generally think just as they do, despite the reality of wide ranges
of opinions, principles and beliefs. However, there are benefits to using such a popular definition
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source. In the context of descriptivist linguistics theory, words are defined based on how people
mutually understand and use them in everyday language. Language is, above all, simply a
communication tool. Dictionary.com’s definition is beneficial, because they define pop culture in
the way which most people understand it. However, their definition does not reflect a deep study
or analysis of what popular culture is, how it works, or why pop culture is so important.
Online (English Learning) Dictionary defines pop culture as “Music, TV, cinema, books, etc.,
that are popular and enjoyed by ordinary people, rather than experts or very educated people.”
This definition is obviously flawed. For example, many of my professors and my fellow college
students share my love of cartoons and memes. According to Cambridge Dictionary, memes
could not be pop culture, because “very educated people” enjoy them. On the contrary, memes
are the epitome of pop culture: an accessible, widely shared artifact that, through shared
experience, creates a shorthand to communicate more complex ideas and stories. It seems that
Cambridge Dictionary’s definition was meant to distinguish pop culture from classical culture.
This approach reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how where culture comes from, and
Experts typically agree that popular culture is enjoyed by many people, but this
agreement stops when we question of the relationship between popular and classical culture. As
a student and lover of art, art history, and linguistics, I can speak with confidence about the role
of cultural history in the creation and continuance of culture. Common experience, like language,
society and culture is required to fully understand most pop culture. When individuals or groups
create cultural artifacts, they incorporate some reference, framing, or response to their own
Tim Delaney’s definition of popular culture implies deep consideration and study on the
topic. As should be expected from a man described in Philosophy Now as “a sociology professor
at the State University of New York at Oswego,” and “a member of the Popular Culture
Association and the American Culture Association.” Philosophy Now summarized Delaney’s
definition as “the ‘culture of the people’, popular culture is determined by the interactions
between people in their everyday activities: styles of dress, the use of slang, greeting rituals and
the foods that people eat are all examples of popular culture. Popular culture is also informed by
the mass media,” (Delaney). I concur with Delaney’s statement that popular culture is the
“culture of the people,” but I believe one could be more specific, to argue that it is the culture of
a group of people. As I’ve argued previously, different individuals will choose to participate in
different aspects of pop culture based on the ways that they identify. Pop culture could be more
wholistically described as the cultural artifacts and ideas that intersect with an individual or
society’s identity. While I concur with Tim Delaney’s general definition of pop culture, I cannot
accept his later assumption that it is constantly “subject to rapid change.” Delaney is mistaken
because he overlooks the ways that popular culture references and responds to cultural history.
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Culture is most often sustained through references and responses. References are a
creator’s way of representing another creator’s work to support their own ideas. Many stories
allude to William Shakespeare or the Bible; I recently read many selections from the Bible for
the first time, but I already knew most of the stories because I live in a society where a majority
of people share the Christian faith, and often reference its scripture. For a more specific example,
take the two posters on the previous page. The first, “Hang In There Baby,” is a popular
motivational poster that has circulated for decades (Baldwin 1971.) “Give Up” is a
demotivational poster, which referenced the imagery of a kitten hanging in midair from “Hang In
There, Baby,” and standard motivational poster format to argue that motivational posters are
ridiculous (Despair Inc.) Response in the broad strokes of popular culture is like a pendulum, the
(demotivational posters). References to previous popular culture are understood by the audience
because they’ve been exposed to similar ideas and artifacts before. If we did not remember and
continue the relevance of older popular culture, new popular culture would not reference it as an
We’re often lead to believe that popular culture changes quickly. The 24 hour news cycle
and constant social media updates lead to a short public attention span. Yet, older popular culture
that informs how we understand our identities, relationships, the nature of societies, and the next
generation of pop culture. In summation, popular culture is any shared cultural artifact or aspect
of life which mutually defines and is defined by the identities of individuals and societies. The
label of popular culture persists as long as any cultural artifact is remembered by those who
Works Cited
Baldwin, Victor. “Hang in There, Baby.” California, 1971. “Hang in There, Baby.” Know Your
Delaney, Tim. “Pop Culture: An Overview.” Philosophy Now, vol. 64, 2007,
2017.
Shakespeare, William. “Seven Stages of Man Speech.” As You Like It. Royal Shakespeare
4 October 2017.
Sugar, Rebecca, creator. Steven Universe, seasons 1-3, Cartoon Network, 2013-2016.