This ‘mass culture’, I believe could destroy and make an ‘ordinary culture’ into extinction through too much influence of “babble” and consumer products on television. Although you could ask what is ordinary and normal? Normal does not have a clear definition; as no one is completely normal, but ordinary seems to be defined as routine or customary, so an ‘ordinary culture’ is considered the norm way of living. So what is mass culture? An extra- ordinary way people live, or is it a negative perception of some people’s choice of life?
By using the textbook ‘seventh edition Sociology Themes and Perspectives’. I found that the “development of the media was debasing the culture of ordinary people, which could cause problems for western societies”. This comment could back up my opinion of a negative effect of media through a mass culture which could destroy the traditional thoughts and practices of western life.
Dwight Macdonald had a theory about mass culture. He claimed that mass culture was very different from high culture and folk art. He states that mass culture is standardized and a commercial kitsch (popular culture which could be considered worthless) used by business to create a profit. This shows that Macdonald as well as I believe that mass culture is “kitsch”- worthless babble used to sell products, which also influences or “brainwashes” people into believing that anything merchandised is right or “sick” as teenagers of today say. Dwight also stated that mass culture takes ‘less mental effort’ and that it ‘tended to undermine high culture’. So basically he is saying that mass culture is maybe for a different class of person.
Dominic Strinati criticizes the whole ‘mass culture theory’. He says that the theory gives ‘popular culture a homogeneous feel’, without taking into account all the varied subcultures around today. This comment slightly changes my whole view on mass culture being “babble”; you get varied subcultures in life, true. Mass culture is not homogeneous, true. However there is nothing here which is full proof to state that ordinary people are being debased by the mass culture.
From this information found I began to widen my search by using the internet to see whether it could shed any light on my answer. I found a website called which had an article called ‘Beyond mass culture’ by Eugene Lunn from the department of history from the university of California, USA. She claimed that ‘mass culture in this century, the post war era 1945-1960, is pivotal’. So basically the whole idea of a mass culture can change direction because of the mass media is constantly expanding, but especially when ‘discretionary income and leisure time were growing in welfare-state societies’ which created a post war shift in ‘cultural outlook and political valence that needs to be emphasized’. This statement is not entirely true because nowadays people are spending their money on advertised products because they have an excess of disposable money that they feel they need to use. The media tells us what to spend our money on and how we should be, rather than how our parents socialised us.
So in conclusion, after reading through my research and points, I believe that a mass culture can debase the culture of ordinary people to a certain extent, I believe that the mass media socialises the public to believe whatever they say, report or advertise. They have control over the public; they create the concept of subcultures and a ‘mass culture’. Thanks to the media people’s idols are over night celebrities, not historic figures of the 20th century. Before the media took control of our lives, we had primary socialisation which we remembered and respected. People feel more respect for their peers in their subculture than their family. The public are being influenced to believe what the media want. This doesn’t mean that primary socialisation is going to disappear, just the manners and what new parents believe will. The ‘ordinary culture’ of the 1950’s is dying out; their traditional view won’t be used because life as we know it is constantly changing, and after time so will our concepts and our actual outlook on life. Our society is soon going to become a mass society and then the mass media will have total control over us.