Chapter 4 Key Issue 3

Why is Popular Culture Widely Distributed?

Quiz

Diffusion of Popular Clothing

1. Name one type of modern house styles and one type of neo-eclectic
housing.
2. What is an influence on clothing in most developed countries?
3. What are characteristics of food customs of popular societies?
4. Which diffused faster, Television or Internet?
WOW Factor
Individual clothing habits reveal how popular culture can be distributed
across the landscape with little regard for distinctive physical features.
 In the MDCs of North America and Western Europe, clothing habits generally reflect
occupations rather than particular environments.

Another influence on clothing in MDCs is higher income.

 Women’s clothing change in fashion from year to the next.

Improved communications have permitted the rapid diffusion of clothing

styles from one region to another.
 Mass manufacturing in Asia and clothing was created in Paris, Milan, London and New
York.
 Styles improved communications and also incomes influence clothing in MDC's.
 New clothes diffuse across Earth in less than 6 weeks due to the diffusion of fax
machines, computers, and satellites.

The globalization of clothing styles has involved increasing awareness by

North Americans and Europeans.
Conclusion
Diffusion of Clothes
(Cont'd)
Jeans
It is a symbol of diffusion of western popular culture
 1960’s jeans had a image for youthful independence
 Jeans became a symbol and obsession in the Soviet Union.
 Regular jeans made in the Soviet Union sell for $400 in the black market.
 Levi jeans increased around the world but in 2004 Levi's last U.S factory closed, mainly
because a Soviet republicer said "jeans evoke the west".

Diffusion of Popular Housing (Cont'd)

Houses show the influence of shapes, materials, detailing, and other
features of architectural style in vogue at any one point in time.
 Also, they demonstrate how popular customs vary more in time than in place in the US
since the 1940s.

Individual clothing habits reveal how popular culture can be distributed

across the landscape with little regard for distinctive physical features.
 Such habits reflect availability of income, as well as social forms such as job
characteristics.

Consumption of large quantities of alcoholic beverages and snack foods are

characteristic of the food customs of popular societies.
 Cultural backgrounds also affect the amount and types of alcohol and snack foods
consumed.
 Geographers cannot explain all the regional variations in food preferences.

Watching television has been an especially significant popular custom for

two reasons.
 1st most popular leisure activity in MDCs.
 2nd it has been the most important mechanism by which knowledge of pop culture is
rapidly diffused across Earth.
The diffusion of television form the US to the rest of the world took a half-
century, whereas the diffusion of Internet took only a decade.
Neo ecletic ( since the 1960s
In the late 1960s, neo-eclectic styles became popular, and by the 1970s,
had surpassed modern styles.
Mansard
Neo-French
Neo-Tudor
Popular in the 1970s, characterized by dominant, steep-pitched front-facing
gables and half-timbered detailing.
Minimal traditional: These houses were seen most in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They’re
reminiscent of Tudor-style houses, which were popular in the 1920’s and 1930’s. It was
normally one story high with few decorative details. They were small, modest houses designed
to house young families and veterans returning from WWII..

Split-level House
A popular variant of the ranch house that came between the 1950s and
1970s. The lower level contained a garage and the new “family” room,
where the TV was normally placed. The kitchen and formal living/dining
rooms were placed on the intermediate level, and the bedrooms on the top
level above the family room and garage.
Diffusion of the Internet
The diffusion of Internet follows a similar pattern established by television
but at a faster pace.
• 1995: 40 million Internet users worldwide, including 25 million from the US
only.
• 2000: Internet usage increased rapidly in the US, from 9% to 44% of the
population.
But the worldwide use increased dramatically from 40 million to 361 million
from 1995 to 2000. US percentage share of the world’s diffusion declined
from 62 to 31 percent
• 2008: Internet usage diffused rapidly. World usage quadrupled to 1.6
billion in 8 years. While the United States usage continued to increase, but
at a modest pace to 74% of the population. The share of the world’s
Internet users found in the United States continued to decline to 14% in
2008.
Diffusion of Facebook
• Facebook was founded in 2004 by a Harvard student
• By 2009, it had 200 million active users.
• Similar to TV and the Internet, the US had more Facebook users than any
other country. Facebook is likely either to diffuse to other parts of the world
or overtaken by other electronic social networking programs.
*The diffusion of television from the US to the rest of the world took a half-
century, whereas the diffusion of Internet took only a decade..
Modern House Styles (1945-1960)

Diffusion of Popular Food (Cont'd)

Diffusion of Popular Housing
Distinctive characteristics of wine derives from a unique combination of soil,
climate, and other physical characteristic at places where the grapes are
grown.
Grapes can be grown in a variety of soils, but the best wine tends to be
produced from grapes grown in soil that is coarse and well drained- soil not
necessarily fertile from other crops.
Distribution of wine production shows that the diffusion of popular customs
depends less on the distinctive environment of a location than on the
presence of beliefs, institutions, and material traits conducive to accepting
those customs.
Wine is made primarily in locations that have a tradition of excellence in
making it and people who like to drink it; can afford to purchase it.
Wine production in much of France and Italy extends back at least to the
Roman Empire.
Wine consumption has been extremely popular.
Houses built in the U.S. since the 1940’s demonstrates how popular customs vary more in time
rather than in place.

Houses show the influence of shapes, materials, detailing and other features of architectural
style in vogue at any one point in time.

After WWII, houses were built in a modern style. Since the 1960s, styles that architects call
“neo-eclectic” have predominated.

Authors:

Popular culture is culture found in a large,heterogeneous society that

shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.
What is popular culture?
(Pg 131)
Neo-Colonial
The first popular neo-eclectic style in the late 1960s and early 1970s. its
second-story walls were covered in shingles, the walls sloped slightly
inward and merged into the roofline.
These houses are also apparent in the early 1960s, and by the early 1970s
was the most fashionable style for new houses. It featured dormer windows,
normally with rounded tops, and high-hipped roofs.
An adaptation of English colonial houses. Its been popular since the 1960s,
but was never “dominant”. Inside many neo-colonial houses, a large central
“great room” replaced the family and living rooms, which were located in
different wings or floors of the ranch and split-level houses.
Diffusion of Popular Food
Diffusion of Housing (Cont'd)
Electronic Diffusion of Popular Culture
Consumption of large quantities of alcohol beverages and snack foods are
characteristics of food customs of popular societies.
Cultural backgrounds (also religion purposes) and regions ties in with food
being distributed in popular culture for many reasons:
 Southeast of the United States has low rates of alcohol consumption due to Baptists’
practices (they drink less then than adherents of other Denominations).
 Utah has low rate of alcohol consumptions because of Latter-Day Saints.
 Nevada has a high rate of alcohol consumption because of the heavy concentration of
gambling and resort activities there.
 Majority of Texas prefer tortilla chips because of the large number of Hispanic
Americans there
 Westerns prefer multi-grain chips because of greater concern for the nutrition content of
snack foods.

Contemporary
Ranch House
These houses replaced minimal traditional houses in the 1950’s and into the 1960s. It normally
had one story with the long side parallel to the street, with all the rooms on one level rather
than two or three. It took up a larger area and encouraged the sprawl of urban areas.

Watching television has been an especially significant popular custom for

two reasons:
 1st most popular leisure activity in MDCs.
 2nd it has been the most important mechanism by which knowledge of pop culture is
rapidly diffused across Earth. (ex Professional sports)

Diffusion of Television
Television technology was developed simultaneously in the UK, France,
Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union as well as the US. Through the
second half of the 20th century, television diffused from the US, first to
Europe, and other MDCs, then to LDCs.
• 1954: US had 37 million TV sets, 200 TV sets per 1,000 inhabitants, the
rest of the world had 2 per 1,000.
• 1970: US had far more TV sets per capita than any other country except
Canada. Half of the countries in the world had little if any broadcasting.
• 2005: Other MDCs had similar rates of ownership as the US, and
ownership rated climbed sharply in many LDCs.
Mostly popular between the 1950s and 1970s for architect-designed
houses. They commonly had flat or low-pitched roofs.
Cont'd