blog




  • Essay / Social Class and Its Relationship to Popular Culture

    In this assignment, I will discuss the recognition of social class and its relationship to popular culture. First, according to Augustyn (2019), “social class, also called class, is a group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic status.” It comes down to the universal, traditional classes: the upper class (also known as the bourgeoisie, in Marxist terms who own the means of production) and the working class (also known as the proletariat whose labor is exploited for the profit). In our modern and contemporary society, there is a “new class” called the precariat, introduced by Guy Standing (2011) and considered inferior to the working class. Furthermore, the term "popular culture" "generally refers to the traditions and material culture of a particular society." In contemporary society, popular culture is important, including keeping up with the latest trends in music, clothing, language, etc. through the power of social media. This keeps individuals in society in touch with the dominant culture. Additionally, I will discuss sociological theories such as Marxism. Marx says that the class that owns the means of production also produces the creation of ideologies through the illustration of base and superstructure (which will be discussed in more detail) and non-sociological theories such as cultural and material deprivation . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay To begin with, some ideas about how social class has been understood sociologically include Marxism, introduced by Marx which explores the differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. . He argues that social class is defined by the relationship a person has with the means of production. The base is the foundation that shapes the superstructure. It is made up of everything related to production and which belongs to the bourgeoisie. Although the superstructure maintains the base, it is made up of major institutions such as education, religion, media, etc. In the same vein, Weber (also considered a Marxist) took some of Marx's ideas, except that he revealed that a person is not defined by their class, but by their position in the market, through their qualifications , his skills, etc. Weber considered economic and non-economic factors related to power and inequality. To support this, according to Longhurst et al, “Weber’s concept of status…opens the way for thinking about the overlaps…between class and status”. Likewise, Gramsci's idea of ​​hegemony reiterates the way in which the ruling class maintains its power, through consent (often by force). Consent is achieved ideologically by getting the masses to accept ideas, thereby retaining their power. Similarly, social class has also been understood sociologically through a non-theoretical approach, using the ideas of cultural and material deprivation. Cultural deprivation refers to this; In the education system, working class students often lack basic cultural amenities such as language, self-discipline or reasoning skills, while material deprivation refers to poverty and lack of material necessities of basics such as adequate income and housing. relates to popular culture in various ways. The sociological ideas of Marx and Weber relate to popular culture because it is simply due to differences in power, class and status. For example, the factthat the bourgeoisie owns the means of production means that it is capable of shaping the superstructure, composed of the main institutions such as the media, the family, etc. An example of this is the idea of ​​"harassment power", that is, advertisements on television (through the media) encourage children to want what they do not need, which which leads to “harassment” of parents. As a result, parents are almost forced to buy the product, for the benefit of those in power. This further is linked to popular culture, as children often want these products so as not to feel excluded from the latest trends. It depends heavily on social media. For example, many young people look up to reality TV stars, like Kim Kardashian, in hopes of being, dressing, and acting like them. Furthermore, regarding Gramsci's idea of ​​hegemony, according to which the bourgeoisie is able to maintain its power through consent, most often forced is linked to popular culture because in the Origins of American Pop Culture , “the new means of mass production… yielded greater numbers of people.” people the income necessary to consume them. In the United States, the rise of a media culture, including cinema, popular music, radio, television, and other forms, allowed popular culture to become industrialized in its production and commercialized in his intention. Leisure and activities became important and dominated by cultural industries such as television, controlled by large corporations. Similarly, according to a study conducted by the University of Frankfurt, the Frankfurt School found that in 1933, many Jews fled Germany for refuge in Germany. in the United States, some had then returned to Germany in 1949. Thanks to the media, Hitler was able to become so powerful, mainly due to the access of the working class and the middle class to the media, which links back to the words of McAdams. Perhaps to some extent, another relationship between social class and popular culture is due to race and gender. This is due to popular culture, such as the media and other tabloids, which falsely believe that "black men" come from a disadvantaged and working class background, leading enforcement agents such as the police to have stereotypes and typifications against these “workers”. black boys in class.” For example, according to one published article, "poverty and lack (of life chances and opportunities) can push boys and young men to engage in violent criminal activity." Therefore, revealing how social class relates to popular culture. This is mainly due to media accessibility. This relates to the vision of cultural and material deprivation. For example, cultural deprivation theorists argue that many “black families” are dysfunctional. According to Sewell, the "absence of fathers as role models" leads "black boys" to seek this protective role among other boys by joining gangs. Illustrating the misrepresentation that 'black boys' come from a working class background and how many people believe in this ideology because of what they see in the media, through 'popular culture'. Therefore, showing how the relationship between social class and popular culture is also about gender and race. To further emphasize the relationship between social class and popular culture, examples must be illustrated. First, in contemporary society, the working class is seen as consisting primarily of ethnic minority groups. For example, according to statistics”.