Sociology of Popular Culture

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 socialization and penetration were clearly a matter of the past half-century. The globalization trend of the contemporary economy has further made popular culture an omnipresent 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, closely integrating observations and empirical analyses of the rich and diverse phenomena of popular culture in different eras, regions, and countries. The book explores the structural characteristics of popular culture, its manifestations in various fields of social life, and its close relationship with people's mentality and spiritual conditions, providing a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the nature and operational logic of popular culture.
The author has resided in Paris, France, for over two decades, situated in one of the most important cradles of Western cultural theory and also one of the primary sources of contemporary popular culture. The combination of intellectual soil and living rhythms has allowed the author to engage in frequent academic exchanges with some of the most renowned thinkers of the time while also enabling close spatial proximity to observe and experience popular culture. This innovative sociological study of popular culture thus combines a solid theoretical foundation with fresh and vivid empirical evidence.
The book covers the following topics: the significance of popular culture and its research, discussions on the definition of popular culture, the basic characteristics and structure of popular culture, popular fashion and food, popular literature and music, and popular culture as symbolic power.