High and Popular Culture

Question 1

what is high culture?

Answer 1

culture of the elite, ‘posh’ = high status
- high cultural restaurants = vintage wine, caviar
- high cultural art forms = opera, ballet, fine art, classical music
- lifestyle high culture = horses, yachts, hunting + shooting, public (independent) schools

Question 2

what are features of high culture?

Answer 2

is exclusive not for ordinary people
- expensive = requires special education / obscure languages (eg. italian)
- that’s why is it = privileged = highly valued
- linked to intelligence, good taste, success

Question 3

what is popular culture?

Answer 3

culture of ordinary people - ‘common’ = low status
- fast-food, fizzy drinks, supermarkets = enjoyed by majority of population
- pop music, grafiti = doesn’t require special education
- media –> hollywood movies, soap operas, celebrities, football, package holidays (state schools)
= because of that popular culture is stigmatised - it’s looked down on suggests low intelligence, lack of style, unsuccessful

Question 4

key study - Pierre Bourdieu (cultural capital, habitus)

Answer 4

Distinction (1979) - survey of 1217 french people in paris and rural french town -> followed up survey’s with interviews
- discovered taste linked to social class (or the class they aspire to)
CULTURAL CAPITAL
economic capital = money
cultural capital = tastes, knowledge, skills that are so valued they function just like money
- rich people pay poorer but educated people to provide high culture
e.g. hire string quartet to play classical music
HABITUS - also links to cultural capital = your lifestyle reveals your cultural capital
e.g. going to see shakespeare at the theatre

Question 5

EVAL of culture - functionalist view

Answer 5

func view - high culture reflects best traditions
- see high culture superior to popular culture = more intelligent, more rewarding
argue: that high culture improves people who consume it
- they say it prevents anomie = popular culture unites people by shared values and creates social solidarity

Question 6

EVAL of culture - marx and fem view

Answer 6

Marx + fem view - argue that there is nothing superior about high culture = it’s just treated as if it’s better
argue: that high culture reflects ruling class ideology / patriarchal ideology
- effect it has on society = causes alienation (making people feel unworthy) justifies class system (sees ruling society better than everyone else), justifies unearned privilege

Question 7

what are the problems with distinction between different types of culture?

Answer 7

jazz music - resembles high culture uses classical music but also form of popular culture - takes pop songs as melody
shakespeare - high culture - adapted into films, musicals, romantic comedies ‘10 things i hate about you’
- popular culture turns into high culture
e.g. shakespeare theatre in the 16th century was enjoyed by everyone

Question 8

shakespeare in schools A02 (views of marx,fem,func)

Answer 8

• part of british national curriculum
• difficult for children to understand 16th century english
  functionalists argue: shakespeare is superior literature - improves young people’s minds
  conflict perspective (marx/fem) would disagree: argue that shakespeare is a valuable qualification (cultural capital) and provides opportunities for students
  different views of shakespeare in the curriculum
• it’s a bad thing not because itd hard but because it embodies ruling class ideology –> justifies the rules of kings/only has male heroes and supports white privilege

Question 9

summary of high and popular culture?

Answer 9

high culture: elite, exclusive, privileged
popular culture: ordinary people, inclusive and stigmatised
Bourdieu 1979 - survey into taste, cultural capital vs economic capital