Popular Culture Sociology - Contemporary Academic Thought Library. Works by Gao Xuanhang

Author: Gao Xuanhang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: While popular culture had already emerged in ancient and early capitalist societies, its prevalence and widespread diffusion within society became distinctly evident only in the past half-century. The globalization trend of the contemporary economy has further transformed popular culture into a pervasive political, economic, and cultural force. This book conducts research and theoretical summaries on popular culture from multidisciplinary perspectives, including philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, linguistics, and semiotics. It closely examines and analyzes diverse, rich, and varied concrete phenomena across different eras, regions, and countries, offering observational and empirical insights into popular culture. The book explores the structural characteristics of popular culture, its manifestations in various domains of social life, and its close relationship with people's psychological and spiritual states, providing a comprehensive and in-depth investigation into the nature and operational logic of popular culture. The author has resided in Paris, France, for over two decades, situated in the cradle of Western cultural theory and also the primary birthplace of contemporary popular culture. The combination of intellectual soil and living rhythms has enabled the author to engage in frequent intellectual exchanges with some of the most renowned thinkers of the modern era while also allowing for close spatial proximity to observe and experience popular culture firsthand. This innovative sociological study of popular culture thus combines a solid theoretical foundation with fresh and vivid empirical evidence.