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Megan Monaghan

Dr. Manthey

SIGN 110

October 2017

Popular Culture: the Multifaceted Common Experience

Popular culture is any commonly shared or recognized aspect of life that defines and is

defined by the identities of the societies and individuals who consume it. Popular culture creates

a common experience which brings communities closer together. For the purpose of this essay,

identity is made up of persistent traits such as behavioral, gestural and verbal mannerisms, social

groups and statuses, practices, beliefs and physical attributes. On a societal level, identity is the

common or prevalent occurrence or practice of any of those things. Singular identity traits can be

used to group similar people or peoples, whereas the combination of many identity traits

distinguishes a person or society from other people or societies.

Pop culture influences individual identities. Social learning theory states that we learn to

be ourselves from the people around us (Lahey, 9). Our experiences, especially the ones that

connect us with others, influence how we see ourselves. The more time one spends engaging in

pop culture, the more distinct and important that facet of their identity will become. As the often

quoted line from Shakespeare goes, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely

players.” Pop culture provides a means for individuals to rehearse the way they present their

identities, or roles, to the world. For example, as a perfectionist and a nerd I identify with Pearl

from Steven Universe (Sugar). While Pearl and I share many traits, like a love of art history, a

habit of over explaining things, and becoming easily exasperated; occasionally even I find

Pearl’s know-it-all attitude kind of annoying. It’s made me question whether I’m a little too
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confident in what I know. Thinking about Pearl reminds me to listen more than I speak. A

cultural artifact provided a basis for me to question how my identity is perceived by others. Pop

culture is a way for us to see and question facets of our identities.

We choose popular culture that reflects our identities. As a slightly genderqueer

pansexual girl, I’m drawn to shows with gender non-binary characters. Steven Universe has

become one of my favorite shows because biological sex and gender expression are seen as

separate entities. In that world, biological sex never limits who someone can be, or how they can

express themself (Sugar.) Maybe it’s just the idealistic liberal in me, but I enjoy that kind of

utopian fantasy in pop culture. (I waited a long time for that acceptance letter from Hogwarts.)

Even in harsh, gritty, dystopian or post-apocalyptic worlds, we see our own possibilities or hopes

for strength and resilience in the survivors’ heroism. We look for our best possible selves in

popular culture.

We choose the popular culture we engage with based on our identity, which is what

makes us distinct from our conception of “people in general.” Therefore, any definition of pop

culture which claims it speaks to “general masses of people,” is highly questionable.

Dictionary.com, a popular and widely used website which amasses easy to comprehend

definitions states that pop culture consists of “Cultural activities or commercial products

reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of general masses of people,” (“Pop Culture.”) I

disagree with this definition on the principle that people are not general. Despite whatever

heuristics one may use to make it easier to understand humanity, I know very few people who

honestly identify with “general masses of people.” Those that do are under the misguided, but

common assumption that people generally think just as they do, despite the reality of wide ranges

of opinions, principles and beliefs. However, there are benefits to using such a popular definition
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source. In the context of descriptivist linguistics theory, words are defined based on how people

mutually understand and use them in everyday language. Language is, above all, simply a

communication tool. Dictionary.com’s definition is beneficial, because they define pop culture in

the way which most people understand it. However, their definition does not reflect a deep study

or analysis of what popular culture is, how it works, or why pop culture is so important.

This shallow understanding of popular culture seems to be fairly pervasive. Cambridge

Online (English Learning) Dictionary defines pop culture as “Music, TV, cinema, books, etc.,

that are popular and enjoyed by ordinary people, rather than experts or very educated people.”

This definition is obviously flawed. For example, many of my professors and my fellow college

students share my love of cartoons and memes. According to Cambridge Dictionary, memes

could not be pop culture, because “very educated people” enjoy them. On the contrary, memes

are the epitome of pop culture: an accessible, widely shared artifact that, through shared

experience, creates a shorthand to communicate more complex ideas and stories. It seems that

Cambridge Dictionary’s definition was meant to distinguish pop culture from classical culture.

This approach reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how where culture comes from, and

how individuals understand it.

Experts typically agree that popular culture is enjoyed by many people, but this

agreement stops when we question of the relationship between popular and classical culture. As

a student and lover of art, art history, and linguistics, I can speak with confidence about the role

of cultural history in the creation and continuance of culture. Common experience, like language,

society and culture is required to fully understand most pop culture. When individuals or groups

create cultural artifacts, they incorporate some reference, framing, or response to their own

identities and the cultural artifacts which inspired them.

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Tim Delaney’s definition of popular culture implies deep consideration and study on the

topic. As should be expected from a man described in ​Philosophy Now​ as “a sociology professor

at the State University of New York at Oswego,” and “a member of the Popular Culture

Association and the American Culture Association.”​ Philosophy Now​ summarized Delaney’s

definition as “the ‘culture of the people’, popular culture is determined by the interactions

between people in their everyday activities: styles of dress, the use of slang, greeting rituals and

the foods that people eat are all examples of popular culture. Popular culture is also informed by

the mass media,” (Delaney). I concur with Delaney’s statement that popular culture is the

“culture of the people,” but I believe one could be more specific, to argue that it is the culture of

a group of people. As I’ve argued previously, different individuals will choose to participate in

different aspects of pop culture based on the ways that they identify. Pop culture could be more

wholistically described as the cultural artifacts and ideas that intersect with an individual or

society’s identity. While I concur with Tim Delaney’s general definition of pop culture, I cannot

accept his later assumption that it is constantly “subject to rapid change.” Delaney is mistaken

because he overlooks the ways that popular culture references and responds to cultural history.
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Culture is most often sustained through references and responses. References are a

creator’s way of representing another creator’s work to support their own ideas. Many stories

allude to William Shakespeare or the Bible; I recently read many selections from the Bible for

the first time, but I already knew most of the stories because I live in a society where a majority

of people share the Christian faith, and often reference its scripture. For a more specific example,

take the two posters on the previous page. The first, “Hang In There Baby,” is a popular

motivational poster that has circulated for decades (Baldwin 1971.) “Give Up” is a

demotivational poster, which referenced the imagery of a kitten hanging in midair from “Hang In

There, Baby,” and standard motivational poster format to argue that motivational posters are

ridiculous (Despair Inc.) Response in the broad strokes of popular culture is like a pendulum, the

popularity of one extreme (motivational posters) causes the popularity of another

(demotivational posters). References to previous popular culture are understood by the audience

because they’ve been exposed to similar ideas and artifacts before. If we did not remember and

continue the relevance of older popular culture, new popular culture would not reference it as an

expected common experience.

We’re often lead to believe that popular culture changes quickly. The 24 hour news cycle

and constant social media updates lead to a short public attention span. Yet, older popular culture

that informs how we understand our identities, relationships, the nature of societies, and the next

generation of pop culture. In summation, popular culture is any shared cultural artifact or aspect

of life which mutually defines and is defined by the identities of individuals and societies. The

label of popular culture persists as long as any cultural artifact is remembered by those who

identify with it.

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Works Cited

Baldwin, Victor. “Hang in There, Baby.” California, 1971. “Hang in There, Baby.” Know Your

Meme, 29 September 2017, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hang-in-there-baby.

Accessed 10 October 2017.

Delaney, Tim. “Pop Culture: An Overview.”​ Philosophy Now,​ vol. 64, 2007,

https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview. Accessed 20 Sept.

2017.

Despair Inc. “Give Up.” ​https://despair.com/collections/posters​. Accessed 10 October 2017.

Lahey, Benjamin. “Introduction and Foundations.” ​Psychology: an introduction.​ 11th Edition.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, New York, 2012.

"Pop culture." Dictionary.com Unabridged,

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/pop--culture, 20 Sept. 2017.

“Pop culture.” Cambridge Dictionaries Online,

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pop-culture, 20 Sept. 2017.

Shakespeare, William. “Seven Stages of Man Speech.”​ As You Like It.​ Royal Shakespeare

Company, ​https://www.rsc.org.uk/as-you-like-it/about-the-play/famous-quotes​. Accessed

4 October 2017.

Sugar, Rebecca, creator. ​Steven Universe,​ seasons 1-3, Cartoon Network, 2013-2016.