Chapter 4: Culture Key Issue 3 WHY IS POPULAR CULTURE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED?

 Basics:  Varies more in time than in place – what was popular in 90’s not popular today  Originates in a specific location but,  Diffuses rapidly  Need enough money to participate and leisure time to enjoy (MDC’s) DIFFUSION OF POP HOUSING, CLOTHING, & FOOD

 Alcohol & Snack Foods  Several regional differences  Dependent on two factors:  High income  National advertising  Far more variation between LDC’s & MDC’s  Wine distribution shows the impact of:  Environment  Religion POPULAR FOOD CUSTOMS

 Fashion is MDC’s  Occupations have a huge influence on fashion  Ex. Lawyers dress like lawyers & plumbers dress like plumbers  Income  Replacing clothes costs money  Better communication increases change over  Used to be a year for knock-offs  Now just weeks  Traditional folk dress works into high fashion  Ex. Poncho  Diffusion of Jeans  Popular in US & Western Europe  Elevated status in countries where hard to get RAPID DIFFUSION OF CLOTHING STYLES

 Since 1940’s housing = fashion  What is trendy  Modern house styles ( )  Minimal traditional – good starter home  Ranch house – rooms on one level, larger lot  Split-level – family room, kitchen, & formal dining room  Contemporary – flat or low pitched roofs, architect-designer homes  Shed – collection of high-pitched roofs  Neo-eclectic (since 1960)  Mansard – sloping second story  Neo-Tudor – steep gables & timber detailing  Neo-French – dormers with rounded tops  Neo-Colonial – “great room” & dormers POP HOUSING STYLES

 TV:  Most popular leisure activity in the world  Most important for rapid diffusion of pop culture  Developed in several countries at the same time, but  US dominated early  Statistics:  1954 – 86% of all TV’s in US  1970 – dropped to 25%  2005 – MDC’s now relatively even and LDC’s growing ELECTRONIC DIFFUSION OF POP CULTURE

 Internet:  same as TV but faster  Statistics:  1995 – 62% of internet users in US (about 25 million users)  not found in many countries  2000 – rapid growth in US but worldwide dropped to 31% of total users  2008 – 14% of total use, 1.6 billion world wide users  Facebook  2004 – founded by Harvard students  2009 – 200 million users ELECTRONIC DIFFUSION OF POP CULTURE