© 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Intercultural Communication in Contexts Third Edition Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama Arizona State University CHAPTER Slide 1 9 Folk Culture, Popular Culture, and Intercultural Communication

Slide 2 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Chapter Summary Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience Consuming and Resisting Popular Culture Representing Cultural Groups U.S. Popular Culture and Power

Slide 3 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Much of what we know about other cultures comes from popular culture. 1.Products of U.S. popular culture are widely circulated internationally, though the reverse is rarely true. 2. Not enough systematic research is done on its success or its effects. Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 4 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill What is folk culture? 1.The influence of folk culture on the development of cultural identity is often overlooked. 2.Many folk traditions are embedded in the history of a cultural group. 3.Folk culture may be viewed as contrary to and complementary to pop culture. Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 5 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill What is folk culture? 1.Not national culture 2.Not high culture or low culture 3.Not packaged, exported, or related to profit 4.Not evidenced everywhere or practiced by everyone Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 6 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill What is popular culture? 1.Pop culture is a reconceptualized notion of low culture. 2.Defined as as those systems or artifacts that most people share and know about 3.Consists of forms of contemporary culture made popular by and for the people, including television, music videos, and popular magazines Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 7 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill What is popular culture? 4. Four significant characteristics of popular culture are: - It is produced by culture industries. - It is different from folk culture. - It is everywhere. - It fills a social function. Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 8 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill What is popular culture? 5. Popular culture is nearly always produced within capitalist systems by culture industries. 6.It is difficult to avoid. 7.It serves as a forum for the discussion of social issues. Learning About Cultures Without Personal Experience

Slide 9 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Consuming and Resisting Popular Culture Consuming Popular Culture 1.Faced with so many cultural texts, people negotiate their way through popular culture in quite different ways. 2.Meaning is never fixed, but is always being constructed within various contexts through encoding and decoding.

Slide 10 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Consuming and Resisting Popular Culture Consuming Popular Culture 3.Magazines prepare portrayals of readership demographics called reader profiles, and respond to the cultural and political needs of cultural identities in a variety of ways. 4.Individuals negotiate consumption through choice.

Slide 11 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Consuming and Resisting Popular Culture Consuming Popular Culture 5. Cultural texts may not represent the identities they target. 6.Different populations can participate in different cultural forums. 7.Cultural magazines and newspapers function like cultural spaces.

Slide 12 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Consuming and Resisting Popular Culture Resisting Popular Culture 1.Sometimes a conflict in culture values and cultural identities is the impetus for actively resisting certain popular culture texts. 2.Much of the resistance stems from concerns about the representation of various social groups.

Slide 13 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Representing Cultural Groups Migrants' Perceptions of Mainstream Culture 1.People use popular culture to learn about other cultures. 2.Many perceive the U.S. to be as it is portrayed on popular television shows. 3.People also use pop culture to reaffirm their own cultural identities.

Slide 14 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Representing Cultural Groups Popular Culture and Stereotyping 1.Our knowledge of places is largely influenced by popular culture. 2.Pop culture represents stereotypes that are are connected to social judgments of others, and that often have negative consequences.

Slide 15 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Representing Cultural Groups Popular Culture and Stereotyping 3. But having some cultural information may lead to more positive communication than having no information at all.

Slide 16 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Global Circulation of Images and Commodities 1. Much U.S. popular culture is exported to other parts of the world, but the reverse is rarely true. 2. It is particularly difficult for non-English- language pop culture to be widely distributed. U.S. Popular Culture and Power

Slide 17 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Cultural Imperialism 1. Five ways to think about cultural imperialism: a. As cultural domination. b. As media imperialism. c. As nationalist discourse. d. As a critique of global capitalism. e. As a critique of modernity. U.S. Popular Culture and Power

Slide 18 © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill Cultural Imperialism 2. There is a close relationship between media imperialism, electronic colonialism, and cultural imperialism. 3. Popular culture plays a big role in understanding relations around the globe, and we rely on popular culture to understand world issues and events. U.S. Popular Culture and Power