In an earlier section we talked about the 
principle of cultural relativism.

In other words, the idea that different cultures 
exist at the same time.

Even though all of these cultural realities are 
equally valid,

some are more popular than others.

Popular cultures are communicated on a large 
scale and both through personal

and mediated communication.

The umbrella term for these types of cultures is 
pop culture.

Scientists are, for very different reasons, 
interested in the study of pop culture.

They study carriers of pop culture,

like songs, movies, literature, game shows, 
video games

basically everything that is deemed popular and 
communicates

mainstream values, ideas and ‘truths’.

Interest in the field of popculture has increased 
since the sixties.

I want to briefly discuss this research theme 
with you.

Why are we actually interested in pop culture?

Well, for many different reasons.

I’ll name a few without any particular order:

Pop culture is often seen as a reflection of 
mainstream society.

The idea is, if we study pop culture we learn how 
society works,

which rules and truths are in place and where 
power resides.

Do you recognize the influence of social 
constructionism here?

To continue this line of thought,

pop culture is considered a building block of a 
shared social reality.

Some scholars oppose to the reflection thesis.

They argue that pop culture is actually artificially 
created.

It is in fact a fake culture, or a fake 
consciousness.

It is not a reflection of mass society but in fact

something created by powerful members of the 
elite,

who control the media landscape.

These powerful few created pop culture to keep 
themselves in power.

that’s – according to this theory - the main 
function of pop culture,

to maintain the current power structures.

So pop culture is designed to keep the masses 
ignorant.

To distract the audience

and keep their thoughts away from the unfair 
distribution of wealth and power in the world.

Pop culture is used to teach people to obey the 
law and obey powerful institutions.

It is used to screen us from reality, to keep 
some knowledge from the public agenda

and keep people’s mind on other 
inconsequential things

like scandals involving actors or rock stars,

or what’s going to happen on tomorrow’s soap 
opera.

This also explains why pop culture according to 
many scholars

does not provoke thought, is unoriginal and of 
low quality.

This theory was first developed by members of 
the Frankfurter School.

A group of loosely affiliated scientists

that were particularly active in the nineteen 
twenties, forties and sixties.

They were not only scientists but also very 
politically active.

Their theories and findings were often used to 
show the need

for social change and emancipation.

Frankfurter scholars were often accused of being 
Marxist.

And not without reason.

Indeed, the Frankfurter School tried to explain 
why the revolution that Marx had predicted,

where labourers of the world would revolt, hadn’t 
happened.

Their answer in a nutshell:

because pop culture, communicated through 
mass media, is specifically created to prevent it.

To keep us docile.

In a way, the media serve as ‘opium for the 
people’,

creating a passive audience that is unlikely to 
start a revolution.

If you want to connect theories, this Frankfurter 
approach actually fitted nicely

with the old mass audience paradigm that we 
covered in week 3.

This traditional audience paradigm saw the 
masses as

passive and unable to select and block 
messages.

Even though the Frankfurter School does not 
have many supporters today,

their negative views on popular culture are often 
seen as somewhat elitist.

It is historically important because

they were the first to focus their questions on 
how pop culture was created

and how it related to a larger societal context.

We’ll talk about several more modern 
approaches to pop culture in our next section.