Popular culture as a terrain for political, personal, and economic struggles
Political opinion and dominance has been well advanced through the objects of popular culture. In addition, the politically elite have advanced notions and ideas that support their being in power and thus try to control the mass production and production of the popular culture. Through the ideas of myths, the society has been socially constructed in terms of various groupings including rich/poor, black/white, and others like man/woman. Media has presented these socially constructed hierarchies as being natural. These groupings have formed a large debate in the political arena. Man has been shaped into an obedient and consenting subject through the Ideological State Apparatus (ISAs). These ISAs are the social institutions that project a popular culture ideology-media, family, law and politics among others. These institutions have largely been dominated by the personal ideologies because these rulers are advancing personal interests. Popular culture seeks to shape the values and notions of an individual in the society. The readers have been claimed to operate from a position of social weakness and cultural marginality just as the poachers of old. Fans do not have the means or the power to influence the decisions of the entertainment industry because they have limited resources. They keep on lobbying and begging over what they need to hear. In this and other behavior, popular culture introduces the idea of personal struggles. Personal values and ideologies have largely been influenced by the popular culture. The way people dress, talk, and respond to various issues have been influenced through the objects of popular cultures. The objects of popular culture give and present relationships which are ideal in nature, some to be envied, while others project the ideals of utopianism. Because readers may want to see themselves behaving as the characters in the mass media, they are struggling between leaving their traditions and cultures and assuming new roles. Culture has played a role in providing solidarity, community, and political action. Economic struggles arise in the fact that popular cultures itself has appeared to advance in capitalism. The objects of popular cultures advance the notion of special cultures and introduces (and propagates) the ideas of cultural divisions such as the elite in the communities and those that are not in this category. Intense competition in the motion picture industry led to uniting of the companies and contributed to monopolistic capitalism. The ownership of such institutions and corporations in the media context has been political in nature.
The values propagated in the media seem to adore the notion that they are for the elite in the community and this has sort to adore personalities. Media has for a long time focused on personality to the extent of adorning them. Monopolistic capitalism which took place between 1890s-1970s was characteristic of multinational corporations concentrating capital, indicating economic struggles. In addition, the period was characteristic of decreased competition. Commercial culture has come to destroy the previous cultural landscape to become economical and propagated materialism which is against the ideals of customary property relations and communal representation
Entertainment as a tool of authoritarianism
One of the things that have enabled popular culture acting as an arsenal of authoritarianism is the manner in which it has been utilized to influence community and masses rather than individuals. Popular culture and entertainment has been applied in the social hierarchy and has for a long time determined and/or influenced the relationship of the landowners, peasants, merchants and craftsmen. Popular culture rose and triumphed through the money economy over uneconomic rhythms. The ideas of capitalism have been advanced through the popular culture which has been mainly spread through the media. The place of the elite and the powerful in the community plays an important role in the popular culture becoming authoritarian. Popular culture has advanced the notion of cultural divisions in the society, and this has played a significant role in advancement of authoritarianism. In the United States, the Aglo-American Culture has advanced such notions since 1950s and the Western culture has largely been popularized in the media channels, and considered as the better. The underlying class relations: elite versus working class culture has specifically been highlighted by this culture. High culture has had certain preferences reserved for it. These are the ‘serious’ music, ‘fine’ art, ‘classic’ literature and ‘great’ film. Some media like the cinema emerged on the basis of capitalism. Culture is produced by the people who have interest and meaning of it and who control the means of production. Karl Marx has captured this notion in relation to the production of popular culture such as media, the church and press among others. Because these advance the notion of control of masses by those in control of them, they are therefore objects of authoritarianism. Those in power largely control the masses that agree and buy the notions propagated by the popular culture. The ruling class is the people who control the mass production including that of the culture because they control mental production. Those who do not have means of controlling mental production have their ideas subject to the control of the ruling class. The ideas which are popularized, according to Karl Max are those advancing the dominance of the ruling class as the ruling one. It advances the ideal expression of the dominant material. In this sense, the entertainment propagates authoritarianism.
Popular culture has brought about the idea of the high versus the non-elite masses and propagated the earlier which is therefore considered as ideal and which must be followed. Popular cultures has given less meaning to the traditional systems that adorned communal unity and love and instead advanced the ideals of capitalism such as class divisions which encourages selfishness and need for sense of authority and power. The elevation of the elite culture which has been advanced by commercial popular culture can be considered as a very vital tool in boosting materialism and authoritarianism. Private property regulations such as the right to exclude others from usage of properties through the notion of capitalism have accelerated authoritarianism as the poor have no control over property. The traditional culture emphasizes the values of traditional self-sufficiencies and self-power and many people have and are being divorced violently from such traditions as transformation of pre-capitalist societies to capitalist mode of production occurs. In addition, the notions of control of masses, market standardization and integration have been pulled towards advancing the interests of the rich people. Unfortunately, the ideas of the powerful class has been progressed with a taste of entertainment in the media channels, through influencing the viewers attitudes, lifestyles, choices, status, tastes and preferences.
Dominant culture & dominant ideology
Dominant culture spreads through repetitive monopoly knowledge that is passed through the ‘objective’ views that are spread through the products of popular culture such as the presentation of the ‘expertise’ views on particular issues over the popular mass media. These notions are necessarily true but more about the ideas of the educated class. They are propagated as what must be held as true. The extent to which they are spread (popularized) explains there extensive influence to the consumer. The continued propagation of the publicly accepted (through the media) ideologies and notions has led to integration of them in the lifestyles of the viewers and the reinforcement of new behaviors which has eroded the traditionally accepted behaviors because entertainment mass media has portrayed them as primitive and undesirable. The place of mass media in the popular culture cannot be ignored. Mass media channels such as television have influenced the creation of culture where the world is somewhat ideal through westernized characters in movies, music and films and adorning materialism. The ideals spread through such media have been spread in surplus and dominated the traditionally held cultural ideologies. The readers or observers are able to imagine a world that is not factual at all. For example, the mass media through the soap operas shown in televisions has propagated the notion that relationships between men and women can be modeled or organized on women’s terms and giving space the values traditionally associated with women. The culture propagated through the media has propagated fantasy and escapism through the women fiction. This has been dealt with by creation of utopias. The creation of the life ideal is advanced through means of communication and fantasy propagated in clubs and bars. It is a representation of a culture that should be as opposed to the one which is there. The consumer of the mass media contents as objects of the popular culture views the characters of cultural contexts and come to see them as real objects. The mass media propagates fictional ideas and because the reader identifies themselves with the subjects in the cultural texts, they assume a fictional nature. Production of the values that is justified through the application of the media shapes the way the viewer/listener shapes the reaction to life situations.
Mass media has arisen to propagate lifestyles for music, bars even to those unable to live such kind of lifestyles. The place of western culture in the media has been widely focused in influencing traditional cultures in the developing world. People have been forced to live lives exemplified by the Westernized characters in the movie and film industry, as well as music. In effect, the western culture has eroded the traditional cultures such as in the developing countries. An example is the influence of young people in the developing countries by copying the western pop music which has a history of adorning criminal behavior and drug abuse.