“Popular culture is the media, products, and attitudes considered to be part of the mainstream of a given culture and the everyday life of common people.” (Lule, 2016)

“Even if pop culture is mainly an aesthetic phenomenon, it has been politicized since at least the punk era.” (Muggleton and Weinzierl 2003)

In a sense, popular culture serves as a link between cultures that are dispersed globally and because of this establishment, pop culture is an interactive area of globalization making it different from all other cultures. This culture is not restricted to youth, borders, exists as an industry and a way of life generating itself as the most commercialized of all cultures. Linking art with commerce, it is a dynamic movement relying on the continuous changes in ideology between the cultural fields. It’s interconnectedness with commerce is the driving force of the marketing methodologies that connect the cultural industries. “Pop does not exist if it isn’t produced and believed in – as an industry, as a culture and a way of living.” (Muggleton and Weinzierl 2003)

Problematically, popular culture is often viewed as lacking in authenticity because of the extent in which they respond to a deliberate synthesis of commodification to a mass market. Popular culture has become an object of consumption and the signification of pleasure. The commercialization of this culture dictates their lifestyle and can be seen in Marxist terms that capitalism destroys any sense of social realities outside of what has been synthetically produced. (Blake 1985)

References:

Blake, M., 1985. Comparative Youth Culture The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures in America Britain and Canada. New York: Routledge.

CP, S., 2015. Music is happiness and followers want it – Always On!. [Online]
Available at: http://www.newznew.com/music-is-happiness-and-followers-want-it-always-on/ [Accessed 11 04 2017].

Lule, J. (2016). Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, v.1.0 Available at: https://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3833?e=lulemedia_1.0-ch02_s02 [Accessed 11 02 2017].

Muggleton, D., 2000. Inside Subculture, The Postmodern Meaning of Style. New York: Berg.

Muggleton, D. a. W. R., 2003. The Post-Subcultures Reader. 1st ed. Oxford. New York. : Berg.