Popular Culture AP Human Geography
Popular Culture: A wide-ranging group of heterogeneous people, who stretch across identities and across the world, and who embrace cultural traits such as music, dance, clothing, and food preference that change frequently and are part of the cultural landscape. Madonna wearing a red string Kabbalah bracelet.
How is Pop Culture Determined? By everyday interactions, needs and desires, the “cultural moments” that make up our daily lives
Forms of Pop Culture Television Music Fashion Food Sports Toys Comic books Film Advertising Cyberspace
Characteristics of popular culture Constantly changing Based in large, heterogeneous groups of people Based mainly in urban areas Material goods mass-produced by machines in factories Prevailing money economy
Characteristics of popular culture More numerous individual relationships, but less personal Weaker family structure Distinct division of labor with highly specialized professions and jobs Considerable leisure time available to most people Police, army, and courts take the place of family and church in maintaining order
Popular culture If a single hallmark of popular culture exists, it is change Words such as growth, progress, fad, and trend crop up frequently in newspapers and conversations Vast majority of people in developed countries belong to the popular culture
Popular culture If a single hallmark of popular culture exists, it is change Contributions to the spread of popular culture Industrialization Urbanization Rise of formal education Increase in leisure time Increase in technology
Cyberspace Perhaps the personal computer and Internet access have created another new type of place Certain words we use imply it has a geography—”Cyberspace” The information superhighway connects not two points, but all points, creating a new sort of place Encourages and speeds cultural diffusion
Internet Connections
Food and drink What we eat and drink differs markedly from one part of the country and world to another Difference in alcoholic drink consumption in the United States Beer has highest per capita consumption levels in the West Least beer is sold in the Lower South and Utah Whiskey, both legal and illegal, has been a traditional southern beverage Californians place more importance on wine
Food and drink Foods vary across North America In the South, barbecued pork and beef, fried chicken, and hamburgers have greater than average popularity More pizza is consumed in the North Focus of Italian immigration Pizza diffused to the southern states only in the mid-1950s
Food and drink Importance of fast food restaurants varies greatly within the United States Stronghold is in the South — 57 percent in Mississippi Northeast has lowest rate of such eateries — 27 percent in New York and Vermont
Popular music The many different styles of popular music all reveal geographic patterning in levels of acceptance Elvis Presley, a generation after his death retains an important place in American popular culture
Sports Abundant leisure time has allowed North Americans to devote time watching or participating in sports Few aspects of popular culture are as widely publicized as our games From Little League through professional contests, athletics receive almost daily attention from members of popular culture Even fantasy sports now are increasingly important in pop culture
Sports The nineteenth century gave us football, ice hockey, baseball, soccer, and basketball— our major spectator sports Our folk ancestors played games, but most were limited to children and little time was spent on them Concept of professional athletes and admission-paying spectators is not found in folk culture
Advertising Most effective device for popular culture diffusion Commercial advertising of retail products bombards us visually and orally Using psychology, we are sold products we do not need
Advertising Modern advertising is very place-conscious Products and services are linked to popular, admired places Example of the “Marlboro Man” and the romanticized American West
Communication barriers to diffusion Spread can be greatly reduced if access to the media is denied To control programming of radio and television is to control much of the diffusion of popular culture Government censorship can also provide barriers to diffusion Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran during 1995 Long opposed Western popular culture as a corrupting influence Outlawed television satellite dishes to try and prevent citizens from watching programs broadcast in foreign countries
Consumerism and the link to Pop Culture Consumerism propels the insatiable belief that we need what we do not have A fundamental frame of reference for relating to oneself, to others, to the environment as a whole
Consumerism and the link to Pop Culture Ideas propelled by the culture industry: Last season’s fashions are so last season Shopping completes us Average adult – 48 new pieces of clothing a year, child – 70 new toys We can all live like celebrities We evaluate our consumption in reference to groups that live financially beyond our own means (rather than our neighbors) Average household credit card debt is $15,799
Beauty and the link to Pop Culture Our self-worth is determined by our looks and cultural norms of sexual attractiveness Airbrushed images of perfected bodies normalize an unattainable expectation of beauty.
Brands and the link to Pop Culture Brands matter McDonald’s coffee beats Starbuck in unbiased Consumer Reports taste tests. Ramones t-shirts have outsold their cds and records 10 to 1 People just want to be cool
Folk Culture Refers to cultural traits that are traditional, no longer widely practiced by a large amount of people and generally isolated in small, often rural areas
“TV and the Cloning of Culture” Close Reading Activity You will have the next 12 minutes to close read and annotate this text.
“TV and the Cloning of Culture” Close Reading Activity In Elbow Partners, answer the following questions in your notebooks: 1. In what ways did the arrival of the television hurt the culture of the Inuit? 2. Why did the Canadian government want the Inuit to be exposed to television? 3. How did men and women appear to be affected differently by the arrival of television and other aspects of “modernization”? 4. What does Jerry Mander think should be done about the destruction of indigenous culture? 5. What do you think should be done? 6. Mander attributes the decline of traditional culture to the arrival of television. What other factors could it be? 7. Mander discusses the values that people learn from tv. Think about the last time you watched tv (with commercials) and write down what it is that people on TV appear to value.