1. What is “culture”?
One approach:
Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 1867
“the best that has been thought and said in the world”
breakdown in authority brought about by working class culture

2. Cultural Studies Approach:
Culture is how we live nature.
Culture is the practices and processes of making meanings with and from the “texts” we encounter in our everyday lives
Example: South Texas “culture”

3. Culture and Power
“Cultures” are made from the production, circulation and consumption of meanings.
Because texts can mean different things, there is often struggle over what they mean.

4. What is popular culture?
John Fiske: Two economies of cultural production
INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY: produced by industry
POPULAR ECONOMY: produced by people
Popular culture is made useful, meaningful, “popular” by the people, not industry.

5. Books and Magazines
History of Printing
Gutenberg's (re)invention of movable type and mechanical printing (1450)
"Chapbooks" books of poetry, ballads, or prose

6. Early American Book Publishing
Bay Psalm Book, 1640
Poor Richard's Almanac by Ben Franklin
Political pamphlets:
Common Sense by Thomas Paine

7. Early Magazines
UK in 1700s
"miscellanies"
After American Revolution
means for political expression
Copyright Act of 1790:
copyright for 14 years + 14 years renewable

8. Growth of American magazines is slow in 19C:
Low literacy
Expensive to mail
Civil War
Illustrations and photos
In-depth coverage
Mathew Brady

9. 19th Century Books
Popularization of content
Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold 300,000 copies
Dime novels
Horatio Alger books
Pulp Fiction in early 20th century

10. 19th Century Magazines
Specialized genres: women’s magazines
Postal Act of 1879: magazines paid lower third class postage, but treated as first class
Muckrakers: sift through unpleasant aspects of public life, crusaded for various causes

11. 20th Century Magazine Genres
Newsmagazines: summarize and interpret
Photojournalism magazines
Women's magazines
Traditional joined by targeted magazines
Hobbies

12. Magazine Economics
Income from:
Subscriptions
Newsstand sales
Advertising
Magazine industry consolidation & market segmentation
niche market
mass market still successful
Distribution
Retailers often take what wholesaler sends

13. Legal Issues:
Copying can be a crime
Copyright protects author, but conglomerates likely beneficiaries of extensions.
Fair Use
If you buy it, you can make a copy of it so that you may use it