What Is Popular Culture and What Can It Reveal About History?

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- Well Liked By Many People

- Inferior Kinds of Work

- Work Designed to Win the Favour of the People

- Culture Made by the People Themselves

- No one definition would be able to describe the idea of popular because everyone has a different opinion on what the best meaning is.

2. Popular Culture

Definitions of popular culture:

- Well-liked or widely favoured by many- so many people like something doesn't mean that on

the surface it doesn't tell us that much about who actually like it, the young, the old. By itself it doesn't tell us an enormous amount about the major sway of the society.

- A Residual Category: What is left over when “High Culture” is removed

- Mass Culture: “Inferior” mass produced commercial culture- Charles Dickens for example

was writing for a larger group of society. He wanted the most amount of people to be familiar with his work so that he could become more popular instead of focusing on just the higher class. His work was not seen of that of a high culture of a result of this. Recently his work has been seen for being different at the time and he is receiving more recognition for it now.

- An “Authentic Culture” originating from “The People”

- A Site of Hegemonic Struggle

- Post-Modernist

- People have a different view on what they like and don't like. A movie for example might be deemed terrible by the a large portion of society but a small group still may like the movie. One person’s opinion varies from another, therefore resulting in larger definitions in popular culture. Mass culture is a large part of of popular culture because not only one group of people are targeted. Popular culture becomes popular because a large portion of society is engaged in similar activities, unlike high culture which is only focusing on the people of wealth.

When did “Popular Culture” begin to exist historically?

Terms:

Matthew Arnold

Pierre Bourdieu

Luciano Pavarotti

Charles Dickens

Film Noir

The Clash

The Jam

A Romanticized Depiction of Working Class Culture

Matthew Arnold- he defined culture in a similar way to a residual category. As society began to experience.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre- Shakespeare’s plays were not seen of that of a higher cultural form as they are today. His plays were preformed for a larger audience, that cut across all social classes. The wealthier individuals would sit on the upper levels, and the poorer people would stand on the ground, known as the grounders. Often within Shakespeare’s plays, there are more elements of risking language, jokes, etc. that are more appealing to the broader society, rather then the universal themes in other plays. At the time this was not viewed as high culture, rather a form of popular culture that is open to all people. The location of the theatre also contributed to the thought of it being more of the form of popular culture. This remains true as well for Film Noir. Shady characters are participating in shady business, murders are often apart of these movies as well.

Luciano Pavarotti- preformed operas that are meant for a higher class of culture, is being displayed to a regular class of people.

Tuesday, September 19th, 2017

The Changing Nature in Leisure in the 18th and 19th Centuries

1. What was the Industrial Revolution?

- Industry Replaces Agriculture

- Modernization

- Defining Industrial Characteristics

Terms:

Urbanization

Working class

Peasants

Bourgeoisie

Proletariat

Great Britain in 1801- begins the industrial revolution. Not like a political revolution. Many generations to unfold. In the 18030’s railroads begin to be built but aren't popularized until the 1850’s. Within England itself.

The Advance of the Industrial Revolution by 1850

Cottage Industry: A Spinning Wheel- existed in the preindustrial area where the textiles included very heavy labour in the production of cloth. Weaving of thread into cloth. Largely how thread was produced, mainly by women. Deemed to be too slow.Began to be a shortage of thread.

Cottage Industry: A Hand Loom- development of larger hand looms. Were able to create a lot of cloth in on spindle, reduced the time of production.

James Hargreaves' spinning jenny (1764)- James Hargreaves invented the spinning Jenny. Operated by one women. More complicated. Number of spindles not just one. Expansion of one system before factories even came to be.

Richard Arkwright’s Water Frame (1769)- created 5 years after the spinning Jenny by Richard Arkwright. Similar to the spinning Jenny. Was powered. By water so needed to be close to a stream or water source of some sort. A number of spindles as well. Over creation of thread once again. People couldn't keep up.

Cartwright’s Power Loom (1785)- looms created from some sort of machine rather then done by hand. Not everyone used this method due to the expense of the machinery.

The Watt Steam Engine (1765)- steam engine was the most significant engine of this time period. The steam engine itself is a motor that will drive anything that you attach it to. Lots of possible uses. Eventual becomes a source of power. Pressure from the heated water.

Defining