Pop Culture and Social Change in the 2000s - Literature review Example

Pop culture and social change in 2000s Institution Student Name Lecturer Date Pop culture and social change in 2000s Introduction Popular culture refers to the type of culture that has been produced for mass consumption. It has a close association with the mainstream, daily activities and what is commonly accessible. The term, however, has got different meanings depending on who is defining it as well as the context of definition or use. It is recognized as the culture of the people or their vernacular that predominates within a certain society during a point in time. According to Brummett (2006), the culture involves the social life aspect that the public is most actively involved. Popular culture, as the people’s culture, is usually determined by how people interact in daily activities. Dressing styles, greeting rituals, use of slang as well as the foods people consume all popular culture examples. Brummett (2006) points out that the popular culture in most cases is informed by the mass media. Discussion Social change refers to the shifts in behaviours and attributes that characterize a society. Ideally, social change is to a large extent related to adapting to improvements within the technological environment of a society. Strinati (2004) notes that as the production possibilities of a society advance as a result of improvement of technology, its citizens develop self-interest of modifying their behaviour so as to take off those circumstances that are new. At first, the number tends to be small with the first adapters being viewed as heretics. However, when there is a continued technological progress, more of the citizens tend to embrace and follow. Attitudes, to a great extent lag behaviour. Attitude is very fundamental in the popular culture for instance. Popular culture, being a reflection of social change, the attitude of people play an essential role in determining whether an individual considers joining the pop culture or not (Leaf, nd). An individual that participates in the activities may fail to condone them; notwithstanding much hypocritical this may sound. It may seem abnormal at first but after sometimes it becomes completely conventional. Social change simply gives a reflection of a shift of a society’s fraction to ascribe a given behavioural mode or attitude. A perfect example for social is the sexual mores change that took place within the 20th century where no teenage that was unmarried indulged in premarital sex but just a mere six per cent. By 2002, the trend had changed, and nearly 75% had the experience. Different cultures, therefore, have emerged as a result of social change. The cultures reflect the existence of a social change in the society, but they never cause the social change. According to John Podhoretz for instance, popular culture came up as a result of social change it, therefore, reflects social change and does not cause it (Strinati, 2004). Pop culture as a reflection of social change in the 2000s Popular culture, especially in around 2000s, has agreed on elements. For instance, the culture encompasses the most contemporary and immediate life aspects (Leaf, nd). The aspects are often subjected to rapid social changes. This is common in highly technological worlds where there is a major influence of the omnipresent media. Popular culture is therefore to a large extent an example of social change. When there are social changes like the 21st century technological advances a popular culture is developed as a result. The social changes in social technology like Facebook, Friendster, and Twitter are contemporarily celebrated and accepted discourse forum in both the lives of the young people as well as the older generations. The adoption of social media like Facebook has therefore become a very common popular culture. By around 2010, the culture was so saturated in the society that a young person that was not registered with Facebook was considered naïve or not exposed. The culture is hence a depiction of social change in the 21st century (Americana, 2009). There are certain commonly held beliefs and standards that the popular culture reflects. Because of the commonality of the culture, it both influences and reflects the everyday life of people. Brands of products can as well attain the popular culture iconic status, for example, the golden arches of McDonald or the Mike swoosh. The iconic brands, just like other popular culture aspects, can fluctuate by always rising and falling. This shows that social change affects the popular culture. Brands change depending on the trends and the interests of the society. Just like fashion, brands are affected by the social change to a large extent. The pop culture, therefore, rise and fall because it just a reflection of the social changes occurring in the society. Popular culture can make large masses of people that are heterogeneous to have a collective identification. It has a very inclusionary societal role because of its ability to unite masses by forms of behaviours that are acceptable. Most people are brought together by what is currently very popular. A good example is with the football fanatics (Delaney , 2007). In 2003 for instance, Arsenal FC was very successful due to its exemplary performance. Most people wanted to be associated with it around the globe. There was a pop culture by then that was commonly shared many football fans in the world (Karimi, 2008). Everyone wanted to buy an Arsenal jersey and have it on. By 2008, Manchester United was doing better than Arsenal FC. Most people, especially the young people who were newly starting to be football fans got affiliated to Manchester United. Everyone needed to be linked with the team, and most people were supporting it. In football and other sports, therefore, people develop a popular that last depending on how the trends of social change are. A team that performs better than others tend to develop a popular culture, but the culture is short lived depending on the trends of the changes. Other than having a feeling of belonging that binds people to the society the pop culture consumption enhance the prestige of a person within their group. The culture further provides people with a chance of changing the norms and sentiments of behaviour that are prevailing. Pop culture is appealing to the people in that it provides opportunities the communal bonding and the happiness of an individual (Delaney, 2007). The examples of popular culture in the 2000s originate from several genres for instance print, music, cyberculture, popular music, entertainment, leisure, sports, fads television and advertisements. However, the most consumed pop culture examples are arguably television and sports, and they are as well the popular cultures examples with great staying power (Brym & Lie, 2012). Most people, from all social classes, play and watch sports, and the masses are usually responsible for sport’s huge popularity. Most societies have embraced sports, and it is a representation of a major section of the lives of people. Most people sacrifice to show allegiance to a particular team that they support to show self-identification (Delaney , 2007). Any individual can hence become a member of a popular culture depending on how they cheer a given team or a particular athlete. Social change has caused the sports pop culture, and the culture has represented the change for so long. Before the 21st century, for instance, the society was very patriarchal, and some sports like football were considered masculine. Therefore, female football was not as common as it is contemporary. Due to social change, most women have formed football teams and hence having a big fan base internationally (Malcolmson, 2004). Before 2000 watching of television was not as common as it is in the 2000s. In fact in continents like Africa, it was even worse because the existing televisions provided very few channels (Jacobs, April 2015). Because of social change, however, there have been technological advances and televisions have become very common and less expensive. Most households by 2010 had televisions. A lot of persons watch television for numerous hours daily. It is an aspect that is very prevalent in contemporary culture. It is very difficult to believe a life without a television. Most ladies by 2010 were very much into the soap programs aired in the television. In fact, the soap programs are identical to the ladies. They have developed a popular culture whereby they cannot help watching the programs for even a day. They are addicted to the programs already. Popular culture is different from high folk and culture. However, the two may be similar because of the involvement of the masses. However, folk culture is a representation of how things are done traditionally. It consequently not changeable and it is hence much more static as compared to popular culture. Popular culture and social change are hence intertwined (Batchelor, 2013). Conclusion In conclusion, social change is reflected by popular culture. Popular culture, therefore, does not cause the social changes that occur in the society but rather it is just an image of the change. In fact, it is the social change that causes popular culture. Popular culture depends on the social trends that occur within the society. People have a tendency of being affiliated to the things that are “attractive” to them. Popular culture focuses on what attracts masses. In the 2000s, the most common pop culture was the social media with Facebook being the most commonly used platform. List of references Ameicana. (2009). Emerging Popular Culture Coorner. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from americanpopularculture.com: http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/emerging/facebook.htm Batchelor, B. (2013). The Popular culture studies Journal Volume 1, Number 1 & 2, 1-142. Brummett, B. (2006). Rhetoric in Popular Culture. New York: Sage. Brym , R., & Lie, J. (2012). Sociology: Pop Culture to Social Structure. Sage: New York. Delaney , T. (2007). Pop Culture: An Overview. Retrieved November 2, 2015, from philosophynow.org: https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview Jacobs, B. (April 2015). Exploring Social Media as Channels for Sustaining African Culture. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 5, No. 4(1); , 37-42. Karimi, F. (2008). Pop Culture with a purpose. Using edutainment media for social chang, pp. 1-60. Leaf, M. (nd). Arts, Popular Culture & Social Change in the New Indonesia. Seminar Proceedings , pp. 1-176. Malcolmson, R. (2004). Popular Culture and Social Change. The Journal of Popular Culture Volume IV, Issue 4, pages 1039–1044. Strinati, D. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. New York: Routledge . Read More