unit 1: what is popular culture? Flashcards
popular culture
culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elites.
who is keith thomas and alan Macfarlane?
historian: witch hunting began from ‘below’ rather than being initiated governments.
who is peter burke?
wrote a book in 1978 ‘popular culture in early modern europe’ and his view that ordinary european’s (non-nobles) beliefs, values, customs and shaped what went on within society
what does burke believe?
burke believes that popular culture came from the ordinary people, but he does clearly state that the secular (someone not bound by religious rule) and religious elites had their own culture, but still participated in popular culture.
factors that caused change in society for the elite:
the renaissance
an intellectual and cultural movement that began in italy in the 14th century, spread to northern europe until the mid 16th century. there was a revival of classical learning, art and architecture, and the concept of the ‘dignity of man’.
the enlightenment
the name given to a school of european thought of the 18th century. those influenced by this believed in reason and also human progress.
more of burke’s view
the elites gradually withdrew from participating in much of the traditional world, encouraged by the eenaissance and the enlightenment. the reformation (protestantism) and counter reformation (catholicism) also impacted this as well. the reason, generally speaking, was due to the promotion of values such as reason, politeness and education. by the 18th century the elite waged a war on anything they saw as superstitious values and disorder within society.
who is robin briggs?
‘half truths and errors’ - he found the study problematic and complex
empirical
trying to find a balanced contradiction
different types of culture
geographical culture
- southern european culture, tighter on women’s freedom. northern europe, ‘indoor’ lifestyle
economically advanced western europe vs less ecomically advanced eastern european states - rural vs urban
elite culture
- nobles, landowners. learned elites - university scholars and churchmen
nobles
not united - royal families at the top. not landowners had a different experience. italy and netherlands had links to commercial activities while eastern europe and france shunned commercial activities
learned elites
not united - scholars were not always churchmen, were at odds in the 1600s due to differing views. gelileo ‘father of modern science.’ the reformation of churchmen (lutherans, calvinists, anglicans, catholics) were divided - not a common church culture
middling cultureqqaasw
- merchants, professional men, farmers, non noble
- not ‘popular’ or ‘elite’
- might stand equally distant from the cultures of both disorderly poor and extravagantly rich.
urban culture
- many europeans cities grew, london grew from 60,000 in 1500 to 1 million in 1800
- large cities had high mortality rates and prone to epidemic diseases
- largest cities (antwerp, paris and london) were centres of sophisticated life
- upper end of urban society were rich merchants and bankers/wealthy skilled professionals e.g carpenters, builders and engineers. bottom end of urban society were servants, labourers and apprentices
common culture
- 9/10ths of europeans still lived and worked in the countryside in single homesteads, hamlets, villages and towns. grew crops, raise livestock
- rural population couldn’t read or write meaning their were few accounts about their culture, rural life was less sophisticated
- low literacy levels limited access to books
- dwellings weren’t large enough to house family gatherings which led to popular culture oudoors
- taverns were centre of entertainment culture; gossip, make bargains, gamble, drink storytelling and songs.
- taverns were small so lots took place in the open air, which is why for country folks winter celebrations were less important than the big summer ones
- football and stoolball were enjoyed in england. europeans enjoyed animals fights, baiting bulls or bears; spain loved bull chasing
- western europe, peasants paid to landowners. eastern europe, many were still slerfs (slaves) who were tied to the land and forced to provide labour
- religious differences affected lifestlyes & youth culture was different to ‘middle age’ and ‘old’ culture & gender differences
what did peter burke (1978) say about common culture?
you can reconstruct an idea of the common culture from the entertainment culture, like songs, ballad, plays and paintings.
who was pieter brueghel?
paintings like ones from flemish artist pieter brueghel show glimpses of ordinary people’s clothes, dances, gestures and attitudes.
