What is popular culture? Why study popular culture in an academic
context? An Introduction to U.S. Popular Culture: People, Politics, and
Power introduces and explores the history and contemporary analysis of
popular culture in the United States. In situating popular culture as
lived experience through the activities, objects, and distractions of
everyday life, the authors work to broaden the understanding of culture
beyond a focus solely on media texts, taking an interdisciplinary
approach to analyze American culture, its rituals, beliefs, and the
objects that shape its existence.
After building a foundation of the history of popular culture as an
academic discipline, the book looks broadly at cultural myths and the
institutional structures, genres, industries, and people that shape the
mindset of popular culture in the United States. It then becomes more
focused with an examination of identity, exploring the ways in which
these myths and mindset are internalized, practiced, and shaped by
individuals. The book concludes by connecting the broad understanding of
popular culture and the unique individual experience with chapters
dedicated to the objects, communities, and celebrations of everyday
life. This approach to the field of study explores all matters of
culture in a way that is accessible and relevant to individuals in and
outside of the classroom.
