Examination of Popular American Culture

Examination of Popular American Culture

Sheri Wisniewski

SOC/105

University of Phoenix

Abstract

In this paper I will examine popular American culture. My paper will define what culture is and what popular culture is. I will also identify three major trends in popular American culture and I will explain how popular American culture affects personal decision making. 

Keywords: culture, popular culture, trends

Examination of Popular American Culture

Definition of Culture

What is culture? According to Merriam-Webster there are three definitions of culture. They are “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time, a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc., and a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization.” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture) Two of the definitions are very similar speaking about the beliefs, arts, etc. Those are the definitions I will be focusing on in this paper as I am going to be concentrating on people and not an organization.

Definition of Popular Culture

In the eBook Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture, “popular culture encompasses the most immediate and contemporary elements in our lives – elements which are often subject to rapid changes in a highly technological world in which people are brought closer and closer by the ubiquitous mass media.”(p. 3) Having access to media literally twenty-four hours a day at your fingertips will definitely affect how quickly changes can take place.

Three major trends in American popular culture. I think that television has to be recognized as a major trend in popular culture. The addition of television to American households was a big change for people. Television was available in 1948, but there were not many who could afford such a luxury, “fewer than 2 percent of American households had a television set”...