Why We Must Study Popular Culture
By Jody Spooner
As November 2 looms and the fate and direction of our country hangs in the balance, Phi Theta Kappans, along with millions of other politically conscious Americans, are scrambling to incite the populace to take the rights and privileges of their citizenship seriously. Voter registration drives have been organized by everyone from Pi Lambda to P. Diddy. Few question the merit of time spent attempting to realize the American ideal, "one voice, one vote."
Those of us who take the study of popular culture seriously are constantly compelled to defend the merit of our life's work. Why waste your time studying fluff? Can anyone really expect to fathom that boy bands, indie films, and the evolution of television news are even remotely as important as the Boxer Rebellion, the Theory of Relativity, or Plato's Republic? Why, then, should we study popular culture?
The ironies of these questions are particularly ripe during election years, when the cries of our democratic culture sing in greatest harmony. Since the mid-19th century, cultural theorists (Matthew Arnold and Dwight Macdonald, for example) have argued the notion that culture is, as Arnold proclaimed, "the best that has been thought and said in the world,"(Riccio 7) and for much of the past two centuries, American education and curriculum has reflected this inequitable fissure of Arnold's notion of culture as either high (elite and worthy of advanced study) or low (born of the masses and devoid of standards).
These practices of segregating culture, Nancy Dolby acknowledges, "provide further closure to class categories: culture becomes a barrier to upward mobility and status, even if money is not," (260) and historically, have proven inconsistent and unreliable. In literature, for example, the novel was first viewed as a tawdry medium for artistic expression. Shakespeare, in 16th century England, was as popular as Steven Spielberg is today, yet few argue that Titus Andronicus and E. T. hold the same cultural significance. Most, I argue, would consider E. T. to be profoundly more important.
The obvious irony is that in a culture that values democracy as its greatest political principle, we often have been encouraged to condemn the ideas of the masses. Notions of elite culture superceding the relevance of what is popular might be more logical and consistent in cultures defined by unilateral political systems: monarchies, oligarchies, dictatorships, totalitarian structures, but in a democracy, the reflections and manifestations of popular culture have even greater relevance because, as critics such as Tim Edensor argue, our national identity is shaped historically, politically and culturally.
Popular Culture, whether it is the text received or a live experience created by people, functions as a site of power and importance in any democratic society; subsequently, popular culture, in a democracy, becomes "a site where people have a voice, a stake, an interest" (Dolby 259).
Upon assuming the editorship of The Journal of Popular Culture in 2003, Gary Hoppenstand was asked by a colleague to explain the value in teaching (ergo studying) popular culture to someone without any background in the subject. He proclaimed:
Popular culture is a story, or more precisely, a collection of stories. Each story tells something critically important about an object, or an entertainment formula, or a belief, or a way of behaving. To understand the way in which these stories are told - and even more importantly, to understand the meaning of these stories - is to understand how culture, society, and the individual interact. To be ignorant of the stories of popular culture is to be ignorant of our relationship with our culture. It is, in fact, to be culturally illiterate, which thus does a disservice to the fundamental concept of a liberal arts education. (151)
His reply, I believe, accurately gauges the significance of our current Honors Study Topic, especially in light of our Society's call for greater civic engagement among our members and in our communities. To retain our faith in democracy, we must acknowledge the relevance of popular culture as the stories of our collective lives. To understand these stories, their meanings, or lack thereof, their importance, or lack thereof, is to embrace the need to understand the fundamental rights, privileges and responsibilities of living in a democracy, of accepting a world where every voice counts.
Works Cited
Dolby, Nadine. "Popular Culture and Democratic Practice." Harvard Educational Review 3.3 (Fall 2003): 258-281.
Hoppenstand, Gary. "Editorial: "The Story of Popular Culture."" The Journal of Popular Culture 37.2 (2003): 151-152.
Riccio, Barry D. "Popular Culture and High Culture: Dwight
Macdonald, his Critics, and the Idea of Cultural Hierarchy in
Modern America." Journal of American Culture 16.4 (Winter 1993):
7-18.
About the Author: Jody Spooner is a Phi Theta Kappa chapter advisor at
Chipola College in Marianna, Florida. He also is a member of the
Society's Honors Committee, which develops the Honors Study Topic.
