I have just recently read an excerpt from, “The Politics of Culture,” by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, chapter 1 to be specific. Chapter 1 being the introduction to the book, presents many concepts that some people may be aware of, but many of the concepts are presented in such a manner that we are to assume that most people are unaware or misinformed in regards to how ‘culture’ is presented within our society. Most notably would be the authors’ description of how the word ‘culture’ came to be, and how culture stems from either that of the high-class aspect of society, the lower class aspect, or quite possibly both in their own simultaneous nature.
Therefore, this begs the question, where is culture created, how does it manifest itself within us, and how does subculture play its part in all of this? In regards to the for mentioned concept of where does culture come from, the politics that define culture and it’s aspects is the fact that culture originally stems from the upper class. During this time of modernism, we often categorize everything around us using labels/categories, thus we think of culture as existing within two categories, ‘culture’ and subculture. Because of the existence of two categories of culture, it is safe to assume that both aspects of culture play a large role in the creation of, ‘culture’ as oppose to culture originating from upper class society.
‘Culture’
Culture without the nationality/ethnicity aspect of itself has many different definitions attached to it, though culture is often considered to be a social expression of life and social interactions within human beings. Though I feel people tend to presume that ‘culture,’ the word itself represents an idea of a certain class of people, that of the upper class. This presumption is based on the misinformed who believe culture is defined as having an appreciation for, “art, literature, and classical music” (pg. 1026). A perfect example of this would be that of the description of someone who is ‘cultured.’ Typically, when people hear this term they tend to already have a preconceived notion of what this person is like, which is typically a person who comes from wealth and has travelled quite a bit, thus giving them an aura of understanding a realm of life that most people have never experienced.
Subculture
A culture, which differentiates itself from the larger culture to which it originally belonged, that is composed of a group of people from other cultures. Subculture can be thought of as an expression of style which pertains to a certain select group of people, whereas culture is an expression of the whole country and or city/town. Because of this difference, subculture is placed in its own category and studied separately from culture.
Therefore, pop culture in itself is divided between two different categories, culture and subculture, which is why it has such potential to become ‘popular.’ Because pop culture utilizes both of these aspects of our life, we feel connected to it. Nevertheless, pop culture can also present new knowledge that can equally grasp us, thus informing us and teaching us of another aspect of life that is different from our own but at same time relating it to our own lives. A wonderful example of this would be that of, Cheezburger.com. Cheezburger.com is a site that is dedicated to the process of mass production and information of Internet culture. Since the creation of this site, Internet culture is now accessible to any person in the world, changing the preconceived notion that Internet culture was nothing more than hackers and porn-aficionados, to that of family friendly culture which can be easily acceptable by soccer moms.
Here is a clip from Cheezburger.com’s Know your Meme episodic.
- Ryan, Michael. "Chapter 1. Introduction: "The Politics of Culture"" The Politics of Culture. By Julie Rickin. 1026-027. Print.
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