An Introduction to Popular Culture in the US
eBook - PDF

An Introduction to Popular Culture in the US

People, Politics, and Power

  1. 288 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

An Introduction to Popular Culture in the US

People, Politics, and Power

About this book

Winner of the Popular Culture Association's 2018 John G. Cawelti Award for the Best Textbook / Primer

What is popular culture? Why study popular culture in an academic context? An Introduction to Popular Culture in the US: People, Politics, and Power introduces and explores the history and contemporary analysis of popular culture in the United States. In situating popular culture as lived experience through the activities, objects, and distractions of everyday life, the authors work to broaden the understanding of culture beyond a focus solely on media texts, taking an interdisciplinary approach to analyze American culture, its rituals, beliefs, and the objects that shape its existence.


After building a foundation of the history of popular culture as an academic discipline, the book looks broadly at cultural myths and the institutional structures, genres, industries, and people that shape the mindset of popular culture in the United States. It then becomes more focused with an examination of identity, exploring the ways in which these myths and mindset are internalized, practiced, and shaped by individuals. The book concludes by connecting the broad understanding of popular culture and the unique individual experience with chapters dedicated to the objects, communities, and celebrations of everyday life. This approach to the field of study explores all matters of culture in a way that is accessible and relevant to individuals in and outside of the classroom.

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Yes, you can access An Introduction to Popular Culture in the US by Jenn Brandt,Callie Clare in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Cultural & Social Anthropology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
An 
Introduction 
to 
Popular 
Culture 
in 
the 
US 
26
18 
Dan 
Ben-Amos, 
“Toward 
a 
Denition 
of 
Folklore 
in 
Context,” 
in 
Toward 
New 
Perspectives 
in 
Folklore
, 
ed. 
Americo 
Paredes 
and 
Richard 
Bauman 
(1972; 
repr., 
Bloomington, 
IN: 
Trickster 
Press, 
2000), 
14.
19 
Ryan 
Wilson, 
“Richard 
Sherman: 
‘ug’ 
Is 
Accepted 
Way 
of 
Calling 
Someone 
N-Word,” 
CBSSports.com
, 
January 
22, 
2014, 
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/
richard-sherman-thug-is-accepted-way-of-calling-someone-n-word/.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Preface
  5. 1 Introduction
  6. 2 Cultural Myths and the American Dream
  7. 3 Genre
  8. 4 The Culture Industries
  9. 5 Heroes and Celebrities
  10. 6 Theories of Identity
  11. 7 Social Constructions of Identity
  12. 8 Material Culture
  13. 9 Community
  14. 10 Rituals and Ceremonies
  15. Glossary
  16. Bibliography
  17. Index