John Storey wrote An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. In this book is the chapter “What is Popular Culture?” In this chapter Storey attempts to suggest some possible definitions of what popular culture is exactly. After giving a few definitions of culture, he explains that culture and ideology are very close, and that in order to understand one the other should also be understood. However, ideology often includes politics, which culture doesn’t.
Storey gives five different definitions of ideology. The first one is that ideology “can refer to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a particular group of people”, such as a professional of political group. The second definition is that it can suggest a certain distortion of things. This is also explained as “false consciousness”. The third definition is used to draw attention to how texts may “present a particular image of the world”. This is basically saying that all texts sway a person’s opinion of something, even if it is not intended to do so. Another definition is that ideology is not just a bunch of ideas, but a material practice. Storey uses the seaside holiday and Christmas as examples of this. The final definition of ideology Storey gives is that ideology is the underlying meanings of things.
With all of these definitions of ideology, Storey then gives six possible definitions of what exactly popular culture is. Some of the definitions include that popular culture that is not high culture; mass culture; culture that originates from ‘the people’; and how it is postmodernist culture that does not recognize high and popular culture. Storey explains all of these definitions in detail, giving reasons as to why each possible definition may or may not work. For example, popular culture can’t originate from the people because it can’t originate from raw material; it has to be commercialized. Storey concludes the chapter by discussing what the rest of the book will discuss on the subject of popular culture.
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