1. Folk and Pop Culture
Key Issues 2, 3, and 4

2. Key Issue 2 Where Are Folk and Popular Material Culture Distributed?
Vocab Alert!

3. Livin’ In A Material World…

4. Get (Graphically) Organized!
Material Culture
Clothing
Housing
Food
Pop
Folk
Folk
Pop
Folk
Pop

5. Clothing

6. Folk Clothing Preferences
Style of clothing worn in response to distinctive agricultural practices and climatic conditions.
Where? Why There?

7. Popular Clothing Styles
Style of clothing generally reflects occupation and income rather than a particular environment
Business suits worn by professionals
Designer clothes worn by the affluent
Rapid Diffusion of Popular Clothing Styles
Improved communications central to rapid diffusion
Diffusion from fashion capitals— Paris or London—to reproductions available in “local” stores has diminished from years to a few weeks.

9. Blue Jeans
Jeans are a good example of the diffusion of Western popular culture.
Local Diversity
Japan: customized with patches and cutouts
Korea: frayed, ripped, or shredded
Italy: bleached on seat of jeans
CLICK TO WATCH

10. Folk Food Preferences
People adapt their food preferences to conditions in the environment.
Asia
Rice: milder, moister regions
Wheat: drier regions
Europe
Italy: preference for quick-frying foods resulted from fuel shortages
Northern Europe: abundant wood supply encouraged slow stewing and roasting of foods

11. AP HUG Vocab in the Express-News Food Section!
I ♥ RLEs!

12. Folk Foods
CLICK TO WATCH

13. CLICK for interactive map
Regionalization
CLICK for interactive map

14. Both Folk and Pop Culture Have Food Taboos
People may desire or avoid certain foods, as a result of perceived beneficial or harmful natural traits.
Ancient Hebrews in the Bible forbidden to eat animals that did not chew their cud or that have cloven feet and fish lacking fins or scales
Muslims have a taboo against eating pork
Hindus have a taboo against consuming cattle

15. Eating Insects… In China!

16. Folk Housing
Where? Why There?

17. Environmental Influences on Folk Housing
Available resources influence building materials used on folk houses—e.g., stone, grass, sod, and skins
Most common wood and brick
Climate and local topography influence design of housing structures
Distinct designs in different locations can be attributed to local cultural preference AND local physical geography

18. Folk Housing Materials

19. U.S. Folk Housing- New England
Federal
Salt Box
Georgian
Cape Cod

20. U.S. Folk Housing- Middle Atlantic
Four Over Four
I House

21. U.S. Folk Housing- Lower Chesapeake/Tidewater South

22. Contemporary U.S. Popular Housing
Since mid-twentieth century, houses display popular culture rather than regional influences
Most people no longer build their own houses but instead are mass-produced by construction companies
Houses show the influence of shapes, materials, detailing, and other features of architectural style in style or demand at any one point in time

23. Can You?
Explain the relationship between folk material culture and the environment?
Identify regional preferences in material culture?
Explain why popular culture diffuses quickly and has influence over products/styles?

24. Key Issue 3
Why Is Access to Folk and Popular Culture Unequal?

25. Electronic Diffusion of Popular Culture

26. Role of Television
Principal obstacle to accessing popular culture is lack of access to electronic media
Most important electronic media format to popular culture is TV for two reasons
Watching TV is most popular leisure activity in the world.
TV is most important mechanism for rapidly diffusing popular culture around the world

27. Think About It…

28. We Have Given the World BOTH…

29. Diffusion of TV- Mid 20th Century
TV technology originated simultaneously in multiple hearths in the early twentieth century— e.g., UK, France, Germany, Japan, Soviet Union, and the United States
Over the course of the twentieth century, the United States went from dominating the world share of TVs to being nearly equal in rates of ownership with most developing countries

31. Diffusion of the Internet- Late 20th Century
Diffusion follows pattern established by TV but at a more rapid rate In 1995, Internet users in the United States accounted for more than half of the global users- by 2011, 77 percent of the U.S. population accessed the Internet Accounted for 10 percent of the global users- now global share decreased by roughly 40 percent in less than 10 years

33. Diffusion of Social Media: 21st Century
Same diffusion pattern as TV and Internet
Facebook2008, Facebook users in United States consisted of 1/3 of all global users, by 2011, global share decreased to 1/5
Twitter
United States was source of 1/3 of all tweets
in 2010
Second leader of tweets is India
CLICK TO WATCH

35. Key Issue 4
Why Do Folk and Popular Culture Face Sustainability Challenges??

36. Sustainability Challenges for Folk Culture
Increased connection with popular culture makes maintaining centuries-old practices difficult
Impacts of globalization on the landscape creates challenges in maintaining a unique landscape
Global diffusion of popular culture beliefs has challenged the subservience of women to men that is embedded in some folk customs

37. The Amish: Preserving Cultural Identity

38. Popular Culture’s Negative Effects
Creates a homogenous landscape, “placelessness” roads/highways, “big box stores,” gated communities
Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools, desert surfing.
Folk Cultures destroyed – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks or change in traditional roles and values.

39. Accelerated Resource Use through Accelerated Consumption
Furs minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters (18th Century Russians) led early fashion trends
Inefficient over-consumption of meat, poultry, fish fed other fish and chicken
Mineral extraction for machines, plastics and fuel
New housing and associated energy and water use
Golf courses (and other leisure activities) use valuable water and destroy habitat worldwide
Pollution waste from fuel generation and discarded products, plastics, marketing and packaging materials

42. Global Diffusion: Unintended Impacts
International prostitution
Dowries in India
CLICK TO READ

43. Cultural Imperialism?
U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate worldwide media.
Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality, and militarism?
U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British (BBC) news media provide/control the dissemination of information worldwide.
These networks are unlikely to focus or provide third world perspective on issues important in the LDCs.

44. Remember!
Traits and leisure activities associated with folk culture tend to diffuse more slowly than those of popular culture
Folk culture tends to be greatly influenced by local environmental conditions
Popular culture is diffused around the world through electronic media that began with the TV and continues with the Internet and Social Media
Popular culture operates outside the constraints of the physical environment
Globalization and greater connectivity have fostered a world where new ideas are spread more rapidly and fewer places of isolation exist- for better or worse