Popular Culture

- Definition of "popular culture" - Popular culture (commonly known as pop culture) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes,images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and dumbed-down in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, and corrupted.

- My definition of "popular culture" - To me, popular culture is the array of entertainment and trends that society currently follows. All the music genres, movies, television shows, words etc that are currently popular with the majority of people. It's a culture that people can become a part of or turn away from, unlike the culture you are born into which is harder to change. If culture is defined by the kind of music, beliefs, dress etc of a group of people, then popular culture is the music, beliefs, dress etc that is popular with the masses as of current.