Hey hey, everyone!!
Welcome to a blog dedicated to popular culture! I spent some time debating whether I should prematurely thank you for “visiting” and reading my blog, because in a way you are obligated to read your fellow classmates opinions and also, I hate clichés. I will say however, that there is nothing I don’t love about good conversation, discussion, and intellectual thought. I love knowing other’s opinion and think that discussion on {almost} any subject can be educational and beneficial (eye opening, in simpler terms). I love writing about my personal opinion so this should be very fun/interesting, especially because I’ve never publicly been so open with sharing. Of course I’m not here to offend anyone, just my thoughts, my blah-ing, on my blog!
It’s funny/crazy how two pages can get you thinking, right? Yeah, sure most of us can somewhat define some aspect of culture for ourselves but I totally obsessed with the to-the-point double angle definition that “The Politics of Culture” gave. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan summed up culture as a word with first explaining that the word culture is very broad with what it can be defined as. Their quickness to explain that the actual word itself has so many meanings and that it’s time that can keep the definition of culture always changing.
As Rivkin and Ryan start the chapter by explaining “below” culture, the only thing that kept coming to my mind was everything I learned in a cultural anthropology class. No, it is true that I can’t tell you every term I learned in that class, but I can tell you I remember feeling as though I had a better understanding of the general understanding that culture holds. As far as below culture goes, I know that I am supposed to act one way with my parents, I was raised not to use slang and to speak adequately to my elders. That’s my below culture, to act how I know to, to speak and address others in the according vernacular. The way we act, behave, speak, and listen are in play on a day to day bases, I’m one way with my friends and another when I am behind my desk at work, this is the “culture below” I was taught.
The culture from above that Rivkin and Ryan touch on as far as social media goes was interesting because it made me think about the self fulfilling prophecy. We as humans have our general social culture that conforms how we act and behave as humans, but as far as social media culture, or “culture from above”, I think that it is one of the biggest outside influences we have. Culture involving the media is something that can come into play after someone has already established their social culture. The media culture can change the way we already act because we desire to resemble our hero or role model. As Rivkin and Ryan conclude their definition of social media culture, they state something that I could not agree more with... In the end, the popular culture that we see in the news, movies, TV shows and books is all a profit motive that is designed to appeal to everyone in one way or another.
