Essay On Popular Culture And High Culture
In this essay, I intend to define the terms popular culture and high culture. I will also explore how their relationship has blurred over time and which are the differences between those two. In order to corroborate my opinion, I will invoke a number of examples to support that the line between those two is vague.
It is a truth that, nowadays, the relationship between popular and high culture has become contorted and blurred over time. So as to understand their differences, it is necessary to define those two terms. Both the meanings of “popular culture” and “high culture” are hard to define. The word ‘culture’ alone is, according to Ray Williams, “one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language” (Storey; 2006).Culture
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Traditionally, it was associated with lower classes and poor education as opposed to the high culture. Moreover, after the end of World War II, the media enjoyed great prosperity and as a result, were occurred great social and cultural changes. The meaning of popular culture began to concur with this of mass culture since it is accessible to the masses. This is a natural consequence since there are many definitions and therefore many opinions about it.
It is noticeable that the mass media have contributed to the spread of popular culture. More and more television shows, songs, films, and movies are being consumed by the public.
Not only popular culture is hard to define, but also high culture. As Raymond Williams said, high culture encompasses the cultural products of aesthetic value which society collectively esteem as art. In popular usage, this term identifies the culture of an “upper class” and aristocracy. In other words, people believe that it belongs to the social elite (1983). In the past, it is a truth that high culture was only part of the elite and the upper classes. Today, the prevailing opinion supports that high culture can be consumed by a few with great economic or educational backgrounds. For instance, visiting a museum, or listening to a classical concerto and opera is considered a privilege of a
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