What is popular culture and why is it such a big part of life in the UK?

History of popular culture in the UK

The first industrial revolution occurred in Great Britain from the mid 18th century to the mid 19th century. It made a lot working population moves from the countryside to find employment in large factories in urban area. When the people gathered together in the same place to work for life, the folk culture had been taken shape. It was the initiate popular culture. Strinati (2004:10) claims that industrialization and urbanization gave rise to an atomized and anonymous mass ripe for manipulation, a mass market for the mass media best catered for by mass culture. Around First World War, Horrall (2001) considers that the idioms and performances were most appealing to the greatest number of Londoners, the phenomena was not immune to these forces. That is to say, London had been become the culture centre at that time. Food, sports, culture devices were all developing quickly. London’s importance as a popular culture centre and the impact of up-to-date music hall can be ganged in part by examining First World War popular culture. Strinati (2004, quoted in Benjamin: 1973) suggests that the very fact that culture came to be almost infinitely reproducible due to the development of techniques of industrial production posed considerable problems for traditional ideas about the role of culture and art in society.

The embodiment of popular culture in modern time

According to Strinati (2004), popular culture is produced by commercial industries for markets of consumers must be a major factor influencing this relationship. If this is so, it must play a crucial part in shaping any meanings and ideas contained in the popular culture produced and consumed. In the modern age, the popular culture has demonstrated diversification. Miller and McHoul (1998:3) point out that the popular is marked by hierarchies of artistic value, with European high art and the philosophical aesthetics of western ruling classes set against the entertainment that people purchase from the commercial world. There is a tendency that popular culture as postmodern culture is going to be accepted by the commercial society. The films, the sports, the magazines, and almost popular forms are advertised by postmodernism. So much as people may experience the first time when they hear Ewis Cosetllo with the familiarity of background pop in the kitchen without any surprise. It is hard to say the tendency is determined by the commercial society, but it is really related with the development of the commercial society. Carey (1992:34) has shown the truths that the existing models of communication are less an analysis than a contribution to the chaos of modern culture. Modern media of communications widen the range of reception while narrowing the range of distribution (Carey, 1992:136). People should admit that the media development relies on the commercial development, while the media development is promoting the commercial information and cultural dissemination. It should be said that popular culture has become a big part of the people's daily life.

Conclusion: 

Popular culture is driven by economic interest obviously.The term ‘Popular culture’ refers to sets of values, beliefs, trends or modes of symbolic expression readily available to and acknowledged by ‘the masses’ McCluskey (2006). British popular culture along with the transformation of cultural elements is changing all the time. And the transformation indeed is by far a phenomenon decided by the economical condition at current trend. In the past, ‘working class’ did the main role in popular culture. The forms were quite simple, just as different performance including singing, dancing, speaking. Because people barely read or write available to and acknowledged by ‘the masses’. McCluskey (2006) states that British popular culture is not restricted in audience to the ‘working class’ majority, but can be seen to bind disparate cultural elements in Britain and challenge fading traditional ‘class’ structures.

Reference:

Alan McCluskey (2006) British Culture [British Popular Culture]

Toby Miller and Alec McHoul(1998) Popular Culture and Everyday Life. London: SAGE Publications

John Storey (2003) Inventing popular culture

Blackwell publish

Andrew Horrall (2001) popular culture in London c.1890-1918: the transformation of entertainment Manchester university press

Dominic Strinati (2004) An introduction to theories of popular culture Bodmin

James W. Carey (1992) Communication as culture : essays on media and society Great Britain: Routledge