So, what is popular culture? The definition of popular culture will depend specifically on whom you interview for the answer. Everyone has a different opinion, of course. Academically, the textbook Common Culture sums up the definition as “a shared knowledge and practices of a specific group at a specific time. Because of its commonality, pop culture both reflects and influences people’s way of life; because it is linked to a specific time and place, pop culture is transitory, subject to change, and often an initiator of change” (Petracca & Sorapure, 2012, p. 4).
How do I interpret popular culture? My take on it is that it's a current way of thinking, that a mass amount of people have taken up or believe in. It could be a certain way to communicate, or a clothing trend, or even something that is just ‘popular’ with the masses at the time. Popular culture can be good and bad. For instance, it is popular culture for everyone to have a smart phone and be able to text one another to communicate on the fly. However, it is also popular culture to text when you should not be texting—while driving, during a business meeting or while having dinner at a restaurant.
Popular culture will make or break your business, whether it be understanding what is trending to keep your business going, or what will draw customers or consumers to your product. If you are behind the times, set in your ways, and not up-to-date on what is popular, chances are your business will suffer for it. For instance, keeping up with current trends in technology, and understanding new and upcoming trends helps with my career. Since I am a budding web developer, understanding new applications or software or even new techniques when programming can showcase my ability to lead the way with innovation on my team. I can further my career if I keep learning and staying on top of what programming techniques are popular, like JQuery, Grails and CSS3. If I learned COBOL programming language ten years ago, and failed to keep up with the latest and greatest advances in programming languages (like Java), I would understand why my supervisor would not think of me first when promotion time came around.
My example of a popular culture artifact, and something I see trending on sites like Facebook (which is a pop culture artifact all its own), Google images, and Pinterest, are witty e-cards. These e-cards are simply sarcastic or humorous sayings that are attached to old-fashioned looking cartoons or drawings that one might have seen in 1950s commercials or newspaper ads. The e-cards are used to make people laugh, tell their true feelings or slam a group of people. I chose this as my artifact because it has become fashionable to post these images/sayings and I am very amused when I read them. It seems everyone has suddenly become quite witty and sarcastic—or at least they believe so.
Popular culture dictates several aspects of our lives. It helps shape our way of thinking, our beliefs, our spirituality, the way we dress, how we raise our children, and also how we can advance in our careers.
References:
Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2012). Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc..
Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2012). Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture (7th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc..
I enjoyed your blog, I also agree with your item. I have many friends that will send these e-cards to groups, and they always provide a laugh along with many following comments. I also agree that pop culture is seen differently by different people.
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