Importance Of Popular Culture

This paper will explain why the study of popular culture aids one’s understanding of contemporary politics by considering the broader relations between popular culture and politics. Firstly, it will endeavour to discern the realm of popular culture and reaffirm its importance, particularly within the discipline of international relations. It will then propose that popular culture is inherently political and thus inevitably manifest into representations of contemporary politics. Thirdly, it will argue that this intertwined nature of popular culture and politics is further patent through the State’s utilisation of popular culture as a ‘tool’ to attain ‘foreign policy objectives’ (Nye 2009, p. 160). Finally, this paper will conclude by arguing

Notwithstanding the difficulty in ascertaining a specific definition of the multifaceted concept, this paper will perceive popular culture as a form of well-liked or widely favoured ‘cultural phenomena’ that is mass produced or widely-shared among populations (Harrington & Biebly 2001, p. 2; Storey 1993). The scholarship of this concept has been resisted in various disciplines. For example, the critical-normative discourse deems ‘politics’ as ‘a rational political activity practised by institutions’, whereas ‘popular’ is affixed as ‘entertainment and superficiality’ (Herkman 2010, p. 703). This has been refuted amongst modern academics who contend that the study of popular culture may alter one’s comprehension of International Relations as an academic discipline (Grayson, Davies, & Philpott 2009). Thus, popular culture is a means of scrutinising the construction of everyday life, for academic and political reasons, wherein the key concepts of power, identity and conflict, and the relations between these notions can be examined (Storey

160; Carver 2010, p. 425). Nye (2004, p. 258, 2009, p. 160) contends that popular culture is a ‘tool’ that can be ‘wielded’ to influence political communication in order ‘to achieve important foreign policy goals.’ For example, The West Wing was utilized by members of the US Congress to trial proposed policy initiatives, as the artefact offered an opportunity to contemplate policy ideas unavailable through conventional formats. (Grayson, Davies, & Philpott 2009). Similarly, the US public diplomacy, subsequent 9/11, utilized various popular cultural artefacts, such as film, sports and cultural exchanges, in an endeavour to refurbish the U.S. image in the Middle East (Mills 2014). However, there is a larger causal connection between popular culture and contemporary politics, as evidenced by the diamond ring. (Weldes & Riley 2015, p. 21) Since being deployed as a means to stimulate a declining US diamond market in 1957, the diamond ring has become a traditional ‘Western’ popular cultural artefact and practice (Weldes & Riley 2015, p. 22). It has consequently become a political ‘tool’ in world political processes involving the political economy, international security, and trade and labour within and between autonomous nations (Rowley & Weldes 2003). The State widely and frequently utilizes popular culture as a ‘tool’ for various