6/8/24, 9:58 PM CSOC202: Popular culture

Introduction
In its entirety, CSOC 202 facilitates the development of a general sociological perspective and point of
view in terms of examining, scrutinizing, interpreting and understanding popular culture.

In many ways, popular culture is an ideal departure point for studying the complex nature of numerous
issues that arise in contemporary society, and Module 1 introduces many of the key concepts and
theories you will use throughout the course in order to do so, including ideology, hegemony, social
conflict, mode of production, power, and consumerism.

In introducing many of the core concepts that you will become familiar with over the course of the
semester, Module 1 pays particular attention to the discipline of sociology as much as it does the
sociology of popular culture, and introduces you to various classical and contemporary theories and
concepts you will apply in critically examining the many areas of popular culture this course explores. In
particular, while the consumption of mainstream television, cinema and music has in many ways been
constituted as a leisure activity or form of entertainment, each of these are also examined as mirrors
reflecting many of the social issues this course explores including popular culture and representations
and narratives involving gender, race, sexuality, social class and power.

Lastly, Module 1 provides a thorough and varied process in introducing both sociology and the sociology
of popular culture.

Topics and Learning Objectives

Topics
This module will include the following topics:

Introductory Concepts and Theories

Socialization, Self, Sociological Imagination

Culture(s):

Canadian culture
Low and High culture
Popular culture

The Culture Industry, Popular culture

Sociological concepts and theories

Ideology, Hegemony
Structural Functionalism, Social Conflict theory

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Symbolic Interaction, Looking Glass theory

Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, you will be able to:

Describe the sociology of popular culture

Recognize the roles of ideology and hegemony in the production of popular culture
Identify the role of corporate Canadian brands and their role in maintaining ideology
Identify the historical binary setting of high and low culture in opposition to one another
Apply the broad ideas identified in The Culture Industry to contemporary popular culture such as
Hollywood and/or social media such as Instagram or TikTok
Compare the sociological concepts and theories

Readings

Required Readings

Grindstaff, L. (2008). “Culture and popular culture: A case for sociology.” The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science. 619. 206–222.
Storey, J. (2009). “What is popular culture?” in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture:
An Introduction (5th Edition) (pp. 1–14).

Introductory Concepts and Theories

Socialization
We socialize with each other and popular culture every day, and socialization is the process through
which we learn the social cultural characteristics that come to define us as we become a member of a
society and social beings. Socialization is a lifelong experience, and through our interactions with others
our daily routines become a type of everyday life, and as such, our socialization fosters a recognition of
self and others while understanding that social identities and social roles contribute to the personal
biographies of each individual as an active self within a greater and larger system, culture.

Lastly, while taking part or participating in the social world, an individual is also participating in their own
socialization while communicating through gestures or language use, while learning and acquiring
knowledge, while engaging in social interactions, as well as when becoming familiarized with the norms,
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values and customs that indicate one as an active member of a society or community as they enter into
social relationships and make sense of, and participate in, society around them.

The Concept of Self

Central to understanding the elements making up the role of socialization of an individual is addressing
the individual themselves, that is, the self. For example, sociology “emphasizes the way in which selves
are socially shaped and managed through the processes of socialization, interaction and biographical
identity work” (Scott, 2006, 146). The self then is socially constructed and the individual person – each of
us – is active in their own socialization, and also in their own identity construction.

According to the sociologist Erving Goffman, the construction of the self is bound up in
presentation and performance in which the individual, the actor, labours in producing a social
identity of themselves that then enters the public social world. In his canonical text, The
Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman contends the social world is in many ways
similar to a theatrical stage production, and in recognizing these similarities he offers an inventive
way of understanding human interaction and behaviour (Goffman, 1959).

More specifically, Goffman saw the self “as constantly moving between two distinct regions: the
‘frontstage’ arena, where publicly visible social characters are performed, and the ‘backstage’
area in which actors keep their props or ‘identity equipment’ and can relax out of role” (Scott,
2006, 147).

Video

Watch this short video further illustrating Goffman’s theory of performance [1:59].

Sociological Imagination
Sociologist C. Wright Mills conceived the term “sociological imagination” in the 1950s and introduced the
concept in illuminating and direct terms, stating “the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history
and biography and the relations between the two in society. That is its task and its promise” (Mills, 1959,
6), and he further concludes that “[n]o social study that does not come back to the problems of
biography, of history and of their intersections within a society has completed its intellectual journey”
(Mills, 1959, 6).

Additionally, Mills addresses the individual person and their place and experiences within the social
world through “troubles” and “issues.”

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A sociological imagination permits an individual to:

draw connections between the social world and how society works in terms of their own personal
life as well as those of others
see their life in the lives of others in terms of privilege, marginalization, (in)equality, power, shared
experience and difference(s)
recognizing the personal is also the political: a personal issue that is a social issue may also have
political implications attached to it.
seeing past histories in present experiences and social structures; for example, understanding a
society’s history in terms of power, privilege, (in)equality, legacies, successes and failures

Activity: Digital Scrapbook, Entry #1

In addressing each of the introductory concepts above, explore your own relationship to each –
socialization, self, sociological imagination – in terms of your private and public selves. For
example, you are welcome to explore your own self and your social identity in terms of your
relationship(s) dynamic with:

family members, a boss, or a co-worker

friends, a romantic partner, a celebrity
social media – Instagram, TikTok, Twitter

Reminder: be sure to review and revisit the CSOC 202 course outline in advance of beginning
your first DS (Digital Scrapbook) entry as the outline contains the instructions, strategies and an
example to reference in getting your DS started.

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Culture
At its most basic level, “culture” reflects the social and cultural practices of specific groups or societies.
For example, “Canadian culture” is a term that circulates through Canada in a variety of ways, including
the social institutions of government, politics and education, as well as popular culture’s, such as sports,
music and advertising. From this perspective then, it is understood that “culture” is both a very clear and
recognizable term, but also a complicated and complex one in determining who, or what, authenticates
the characteristics that make up Canadian culture. More specifically, if a culture is identifiable through its
active system of shared beliefs, values, customs and behaviours, where do these elements originate
(Haslam, 2016, 3)?

In everyday terms, “culture” is understood as being the organizational foundation or location of widely
shared symbolic meaning systems that enable communication on a macro – large scale – level. In
Canada, mainstream entertainment, university campuses, shopping malls, and even neighbourhoods,
are all able to name themselves as cultures by way of the active systems of shared elements each
shares within itself.

For example, in order to establish a functioning culture the following four elements must be present:

Culture is learned through socialization, language, history, traditions and values.

Culture is rooted in communication, including symbolic. For example, a lone maple leaf symbolizes
Canada, while a forefinger and a middle finger extended symbolizes “peace”; however, both are
arbitrary, socially learned and determined meanings rather than objectively true meanings.
Culture and its characteristics are shared amongst the many rather than the few.
A culture is whole when integrated within itself: that is, when each element above is present a fully
formed culture can be established.

For Raymond Williams, the term “culture” itself is “one of the two or three most complicated words in the
English language” (Williams, 1983, 87) and is explained in three parts.

That is, for Williams (Williams, 1983, 90) culture can reflect:

a process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development

a particular way of life of a people, period or group
the work, labour and processes of intellectual and artistic creativity

Applying Sociology: Canada, Culture and “Canadian Culture”

The study of culture, including its production, consumption, distribution and behaviours within it, “has at
its heart the idea that human beings are constantly shaping the world around them, and are in turn
shaped by that world in what’s that go beyond our basic physical needs” (Haslam, 2016, 6) such as a
food, housing and health care. Additionally, Haslam states that large communities, even large
communities within a larger population such as Canada, may be understood in many different ways
through a study of that cultural body.

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For example, while Canada may be explained through dominant, normalized and mainstream
stereotypes (and sometimes, cliches) such as Canadians being terrifically polite, enjoying the cold, a fan
of hockey, humble, working class and democratic; while these characteristics may be relatable and
identifiable to many, these same characteristics are not relatable and are unidentifiable to just as many.

That is, while this identity construction may be true to some, this truth is also dependent on its being
maintained by an antiquated Canadian ideology centring and privileging this identity as reflective of
Canada as a whole, rather than only one of many, and this maintenance is often performed by Canada’s
traditionally regarded “authentic” brands, such as Molson Canadian, Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire and
their national television commercials and advertising campaigns.

So What Is “Canadian Culture”?

Challenging the legitimacy of the term “Canadian culture” itself is both revealing and ethically sound, and
also reflects Williams’ earlier claim that the term “culture” is a deeply complicated one. For example,
absent in the discussion of “Canadian culture” to this point are Canada’s Indigenous communities. More
specifically, all too absent in the representations of “Canadian culture” brands such as Molson or Tim
Horton’s produce are, again, Canada’s Indigenous communities, and while Canada is a country of
immigrants, with the exception of its Indigenous peoples, all other Canadians entered from other
nations.

While Canada is made up of a culturally and racially diverse population, Canadian ideology, in particular
with respect to Canadian popular culture, remains predominantly focused on ensuring the maintenance
of the identity construction illustrated above, and often does so through the circulation of television
commercials produced by those corporate brands. This production of Canadian popular culture by a
brand such as Molson Canadian reveals the possibility of identifying the brand as not representing
“Canadian culture” so much as it may be producing and maintaining Canada’s existing dominant
ideology through consumerism.

There exists in Toronto dozens of cultural communities whose own characteristics do not necessarily
come to be found in mainstream representations of Canada such as the Molson Canadian commercial
below. Instead, and as Haslam confirms, the immense multiculturalism of Toronto offers students of
sociology an instructive opportunity to learn about various cultural groups in terms of how one is
structured, perceives the world around it, and how it is different or similar to others (Haslam, 2016, 5).
For example, Canada is broadly identified as deeply multicultural, whereas more specifically, the city of
Toronto is not only Canada’s largest city as well as its most multicultural, but it is also often referred to as
“the most multicultural city in the world.”

In summarizing this section on Canada, “Canadian culture” and its Indigenous people, then while
Canada is empirically and definitively a terrifically diverse country, many of the mainstream, ideological
popular cultural representations that circulate often tend to be unreflective of this multiculturalism,
demonstrate a concretely underrepresentation of its Indigenous communities, and instead often offer a
commercialized or idealized version of Canada that routinely slips beyond “representation” and into
“commodification.”

Activity: Molson Canadian: Made From Canada (2010)

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Watch the following commercial and consider the elements of, and strategies in producing,
“Canadian culture.”

Video: Molson Canadian: Made From Canada [1:00].

Then answer the sample multiple choice questions below:

1. Reflects the diversity of Canada

2. Presents Canada as privileged, recreation driven, and inaccessible to most
3. Represents Canada as unwelcoming to outsiders or visitors
4. Represents Canada as a fantasy and a theme park
5. B and D

*The correct answer is found at the end of the module.

In 2017, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) named Toronto, Ontario as “The Most Multicultural
City in the World,” and while the title is largely ceremonial, it is nevertheless, symbolic of the city’s
reputation around the world as incredibly diverse, referred to in years past as multicultural “mosaic”
rather than a multicultural “melting pot” – the idea here being that the former reflects a city allowing for its
many cultural groups to simultaneously exist both “at home” and in Toronto, the existing “at home” a
reference to the cultural characteristics making up the community at its place or origin are not erased,
prohibited or discouraged, but instead recognized, encouraged and acknowledged, both formally and
informally in terms of government and community.

The multiculturalism practiced in Toronto is ideally one that encourages a cultural community’s traditions,
languages, religions, cultural characteristics and social events to be held onto, practiced and celebrated.
For example, some of Toronto’s cultural communities include Portugal Village, Little Italy, Greektown,
Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Jamaica and Little India, among others, and many host summer festivals
such as, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly Caribana, Taste of the Danforth in Greektown,
and Portugal Village’s annual Portugal Day. Additionally, the multicultural nature of Toronto is also
identifiable by Kensington Market, a now generations old neighbourhood famous for its diverse
multiculturalism.

Activity: Molson Canadian (Follow-Up)

Read the article and watch the video below. Then consider the different ways in which Canada is
represented through the Molson Canadian beer commercial that emphasizes Canada as a whole
(national) and a news story and video that, while focused on Toronto, seemingly reflects the city
as an international one, where a multitude of cultures and nationalities intersect.

Reading: Toronto: The City of 140 Languages (BBC, July 31, 2017)
Video: The History of Kensington Market (Old Toronto Series, 2019) [10:21]

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In advance of having begun this module, I was of the opinion that popular cultural
representations of Canada such as Made From Canada accurately depicted that
nation.

Strongly agree

Mostly agree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Don’t really care to be honest

Submit

Defining Low and High Culture

While it seems an easy task to identify popular culture, defining popular culture is a more laborious
process that entails distinguishing between low culture and high culture. In opposition to each other, not
unlike other binary oppositions such as “good or bad,” “right or wrong,” or “yes or no.” Like these three
binaries, identifying, categorizing and deciding on what determines whether low or high culture is the
appropriate designation is a complex process.

Defining Low Culture

Low culture, or what is often used interchangeably, popular culture, has traditionally been a term used to
designate that which is opposition to high culture.

More specifically, low culture has been categorized as inferior, simplistic, repetitive and unimaginative in
appealing to the most people as possible. For example, a long-used starting point would be to designate
low, popular cultural culture as simply “that which is popular,” such as action movies, romantic comedies,
social media such as Instagram and TikTok, celebrity culture and/or fandom, the Marvel comics film
franchise, pop music such as Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys in the past, and Billie Eilish or Drake, in
2021. However, even this designation, despite each being undoubtedly “popular,” produces a
conundrum.

For example, Drake’s roots are in rap music, whose own roots are in counter-culture, not popular culture;
Eilish has often borrowed an aesthetic and style drawn from 1990s grunge music culture; Spears is one
in a long line of successful pop stars “manufactured” through the Disney system; and the Backstreet

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Boys of the 1990s were explicitly influenced by earlier multi-member male pop and R&B groups from the
1980s such as New Edition and New Kids on the Block. In efforts to again illustrate the complexity of
defining or declaring what is and isn’t popular culture, these distinctions themselves are not free of being
in need of more scrutiny.

For example, while New Edition and New Kids On the Block may have both been composed of teenage
boys at their onset, aside from NKOTB’s borrowing from the traditions of Black R&B groups and from
New Edition specifically, that is largely where their comparisons end. Moreover, while Eilish has
borrowed from grunge culture – Converse All-Stars, baggie jeans and t-shirts, oversized flannel shirts –
such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, she has also borrowed the aesthetic style of Black 1990s girl groups
such as TLC, Xscape and SWV.

As such, each example above represents music that is terrifically popular, but certainly not the same,
and lastly, while each may be categorized as “popular culture” as a result of “being popular” it is both
unfinished and insufficient to suggest that they are “all the same.” This is a similar equation unpacked in
terms of examining a romantic comedy or a situation comedy, or sit-com.

Defining High Culture

In a general sense, or simple terms, high culture “refers to forms of cultural production or objects that are
seen as being unique, well-wrought, and meaningful in themselves, and as helping to distinguish,
educate, or enlighten both individuals and the society of which they are a part. Often this definition is
restricted to specific forms of artistic production, and certain examples of music, painting, literature, or
other artistic forms are seen as intrinsically beautiful and uplifting of the spirit and the mind” (Haslam,
2016, 12).

At this point, various simplistic cataloguing strategies are employed wherein a cultural text's proper
designation or place to be categorized is determined. For example, high culture has been variously
described as civilized, enlightened, intellectual and critical, whereas low culture has had adjectives such
as simple, standardized, repetitive, uninspired and easily consumed. This last description is code for
“non-intellectual,” a type of messaging that a social conflict theory would contend demonstrates the elitist
nature of this approach to categorization, as it suggest the entertainment and culture one consumes is
dictated by their level of intellect, education and ability to separate the valuable from the invaluable.

Pause and Reflect

Below are four simple examples of both low and high culture, in terms of the stipulations required
of each, as the content above explains. What two examples can you think of that you may be
able to add to each list?

Note: this is a non-graded activity meant to stimulate critical thinking in terms of popular culture.

Low Culture:

1. Network television sit-coms such as Friends, the King of Queens or How I Met Your Mother
2. Reality Television such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians or Love Island

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3. Romantic Comedies such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Love, Actually

4. Mainstream pop music such as Justin Bieber or Billie Eilish

High Culture:

1. Literature, such as Shakespeare, James Joyce, Jane Austin or Ernest Hemingway

2. Opera
3. Classical music
4. Visual arts – for example, Impressionist and Expressionist painting

The pervasive belief that so-called “serious” art stimulates intellectualism and enlightened thought has
long been held as truth in terms of one’s social and intellectual development, and this distinction
between the serious and non-serious is most commonly drawn to distinguish between high-brow (high
culture) and low-brow (low culture) as seen in the screening below.

Video

Watch the scene below about a father and son spending an afternoon together in 1986. After
telling his father he’d like to be a professional tennis coach when he grows up, the father explains
how the coach the son idolizes is a “philistine,” a term used to describe someone who is lacking
in so-called “serious” interests in terms of career, art, music and literature. Lastly, the father is an
advocate of high culture; be sure to pay attention to the references the father draws on in
criticizing the coach, Ivan.

Video: The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005) [2:28]

Collapsing High Versus Low

You should now be able to list the introductory and primary elements used to distinguish between low
culture and high culture, as well recognize various characteristics making up the establishment of a
culture itself, Canadian culture, for example. That is, recall the Molson Canadian commercial from
earlier: the commercial produces a highly commercialized, stylized and seductive version of Canada that
many of those in Canada find unrelatable, not anything like their everyday experiences.

Molson has, however, produced a cultural artefact, the commercial, that is deeply symbolic of many of
the romanticized ideas that circulate in Canadian culture, such as those in Canada being intimately
connected to the mountains, lakes, trees, winter, hockey and beer. The commercial itself is attractive,
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yes, but also stylized, like a fantasy more than a reality, a produced representation of Canada ultimately
working to entrench the numerous cultural characteristics that identify Canada, and Canadians.

Much as Molson produces its ideal version of Canada and Canadian culture, the sociologist focuses as
much on the production as the product. For example, who and what determines and decides on how
Canada will be represented? How accurate and/or relatable is the commercial, and does it even matter?
These are just a couple of the types of questions that sociologists consider when examining popular
cultural texts (products) such as a beer commercial.

For example, the Molson commercial relies heavily on symbolic meanings associated with Canada
rather than everyday meanings: the vast majority of Canadians do not play hockey on a frozen body of
water in Banff, have everyday access to a cottage in Muskoka or drive through Manitoba wheat fields in
summer, but each of these representations are symbolically meaningful in terms of a fantasy of Canada,
rather than the reality of Canada; for most, anyway.

Pierre Bourdieu’s View

According to Pierre Bourdieu, the starting point in scrutinizing cultural texts – an opera, a beer
commercial or a video game – is recognizing the socially constructed nature of the texts, and also
recognizing that a beer commercial is simply a visual narrative endorsement of a consumer product.

That is, the product itself can only have meaning if that product is injected with a symbolic meaning that
ultimately compels the consumer to complete the purchase. For example, a consumer may identify with
the symbolism Molson Canadian attaches to it’s product – the outdoors, freedom, mountains and lakes –
and purchase the beer as a result – the beer represents not only the consumer, but also that consumer’s
imagination of an ideal Canada.

For Bourdieu, then, the cultural production of a text produces the symbolic meaning attached to it
(Bourdieu, 1984, 4). Bourdieu’s focus is centralized on disrupting the boundaries set between high
culture and low culture, and it is through the processes of symbolic production – such as the Molson
commercial – that cultural texts are assigned a position or ranking in a hierarchy that either includes or
excludes a text from the high culture category. While Molson’s cultural production results in a symbolic,
fantasy-based version of Canada, the symbolic meaning of opera designates it as high culture whereas
the symbolism attached to reality television designates it as low culture.

The three images below illustrate the central argument Bourdieu proposes, and more specifically, when
considered alongside each other, the images reflect the following:

1. The distinction between low culture (on the left) and high culture (on the right)

2. The painting the Mona Lisa is understandably revered as one of the most valuable and important
works of art history.

3. Paris Hilton and Marge Simpson from The Simpsons are both public (despite being fictional, in the
case of Marge) figures and iconic popular cultural reference points.

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4. In collapsing the high culture of the Mona Lisa with the popular culture of Hilton and Simpson, the
two images on the left reflect the mass production of texts lacking in authenticity, intellectual rigour,
critical meaning and originality that high culture is typically marked by, and both are mass produced
and appear on t-shirts, shower curtains, coffee mugs and posters for the mass consumption by the
masses – the people, all of us!

5. TheMona Lisa, however, is authentic, original, singular and as a result, true in meaning.

These points illustrate how the production and symbolic meaning are as important to a cultural text such
as a painting as the painting itself, and while the painting is indeed skilled, original and one of a kind, the
meaning attached to the painting is an integral part of Mona Lisa’s history, value and veneration, as
well.

Paris Hilton and Marge Simpson as the Mona Lisa.

Source: The Presurfer

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Ideology
John Storey describes ideology as “a crucial concept in the study of popular culture” (Storey, 1993, 3),
broadly defined as a group of ideas or beliefs that are normalized and naturalized as objectively true and
real by dominant institutions such as government, powerful capitalist entities such as Nike or Apple, as
well as Hollywood, to name just a few. Moreover, for Karl Marx, when seductive and compelling enough,
“ideologies become natural enough to the point of invisibility as they exist as common sense while
Mona Lisa
reflecting (Leonardo
a particular DaVinci,
way of life”; for1503).
example, capitalism is largely unquestioned in the western world as
true, democratic and open to everyone.
Source: Pixabay
Storey outlines what he considers to be five central components of ideology (Storey, 1993, 3–6):

As referring to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a particular group of people

To indicate how some cultural texts – an advertisement, for example – present distorted or
manipulated images or representations of reality

Very much connected to the component immediately above, draws attention to the way cultural
texts such as television shows, movies or pop songs present a particular and specific image of the
world

As not only a body of ideas, but as a practice of life: ideology is encountered and negotiated in the
everyday practices of everyday life

As operating mainly at the level of connotations: the secondary or subjective meanings texts,
practices, and images can carry and communicate to the consumer of that source

Ideology is a conditioned truth or reality that is created and maintained by the dominant, ruling power –
political leaders, for example – resulting in the normalization of universal ideas that become common
sense ways of thinking about society.

For example, in Canada, taxation, democracy and universal health care are all ideological to the “real”
world, and as the Molson Canadian commercial illustrated, hockey, beer, cold weather and nature are all

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ideological to a popular cultural representation of that same “real” world.

Hegemony
If ideologies are constructed ideas normalized through various communication arms of dominant culture,
those ideologies must be protected against counter arguments and dissent. As such, key to the
facilitation and maintenance of ideology is hegemony: a system in place to protect and maintain
ideologies while ensuring they remain the norm, dominant, common sense and the status quo.
Hegemony is broadly understood as examining inequalities stemming from society’s unequal systems
of power, influence and dominance, and emphasizes the role of ideology normalizing and naturalizing
those systems within society and culture. For example, hegemony illustrates “an ideological framework
through which society functions, and that helps to maintain the status quo in which particular groups
exercise control over others” (Haslam, 2016, 47).

At an introductory level, hegemony is marked by four characteristics as it:

Draws connections between culture and power while protecting or maintaining a dominant ideology

Employs a system of coercion and consent: this makes us passive in turn seeing us come to agree
with (or accept) a dominant culture and ideology

Maintains an ideology as something “normal or rational”

Is exercised through society and culture (as well as popular culture) and it’s normalizing of
presumed norms and expectations

Hegemony, then, is the process through which the ruling class maintain their powers and privileges.
While Karl Marx, and a variety of other political figures and social theorists, have described force and
coercion – for example, the police, the military, public policy, law(s) and the justice system – as key to
this process, they have also stressed the importance of ideology in persuading the less powerful to
agree to this subordination, or in other words, allowing an ideology to operate as an active social agent
normalizing ideas and beliefs in society on behalf of the dominant power(s) that benefit as a result.

Ideologies are ideas that are protected by the process of hegemony in which social order is maintained
through the ideas of the dominant class rendered as “common sense” and to which the masses come to
see as key elements in the organization of a functioning and stable society resulting in social harmony
and consensus (Haslam, 2016, 47).

For example, in ensuring social harmony, the hegemonic process can take shape in three ways:

1. Coercion: the police, military or justice system

2. Consent: the production of ideologies created by the dominant class and normalized as true,

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legitimate and unquestioned)

3. Compromise: between the lower and upper classes (whereby the upper class make concessions to
the lower orders in the name of negotiation and democracy).

Structural Functionalism (SF)

Structural functionalism, often shortened to functionalism, views society as alive, an active system of
existence made up of independent, but interdependent institutions – namely, capitalism and the
economy, education, religion, government, among others – that structure society and ensure the relative
stability and harmony of society as a whole.

Further, the harmonious nature of society is dependent on consensus: the majority of the people share a
host of general values, beliefs, and behaviours ensuring society remains in a perpetual state of balance
as the status quo – the existing state of affairs – is maintained. For example, ideologies (ideas) are
protected by hegemony (power) and those ideas become normal and ensure social harmony and
stability.

For example, functionalism identifies democracy, multiculturalism, universal health care, capitalism and
education as foundational values in Canada, values which produce a relatively harmonious country. This
classical sociological theory (SF) identifies the various institutions listed above, as well as more popular
culture specific entertainment industries such as Hollywood and advertising, and describes the functions
each performs in contributing to the maintenance of the social system and social world.

Finally, functionalism emphasizes the importance of social bonds, consensus and harmony in ensuring
the stability of the whole – Canada, for example – and the wellbeing of individuals. As such,
functionalism argues stability is ensured through a shared sense of culture established through
foundational biological needs – food and procreation, as well as assimilationist or integrative
requirements – religion, socialization, nationhood and economy.

Structural functionalism’s contention that social bonds and a shared culture contribute to the
wellbeing and health of a country and its people is pertinent to both Canada and the USA in 2021
and this point is illustrative in recognizing that to varying degrees both countries are currently
engaged in a series of “culture wars” in which politics, religion and culture, as well as race,
gender and sexuality are intersecting in inflammatory ways.

For example, while reproductive rights, racism and same-sex marriage have long been sites of
disagreement and discord in both countries, in 2021 even the Covid-19 pandemic has been
entered into these wars. Before moving on to the next section of the module, take a few minutes
to consider some of the ways you can illustrate any or all of the above as producing a Canadian
(or US) culture that is unwell, divided and in need of rehabilitation.

Study Tip: Taking a few minutes to think about module content in reflection of your own ideas
and experiences is a quick and beneficial way to contextualize content actively while working
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through each module.

Social Conflict Theory (SCT)

The assumptions drawn by functionalism are in stark contrast to those drawn by social conflict theory
(SCT). Two fundamental areas of society SCT examines are capitalism and social class, and the
relationship to inequality each maintains. For example, under capitalism, the production of commodities
– goods and objects such as a car, mobile device or television – are subordinate to the stability and
profitability recognized by the marketplace. The drive for profits on the part of those working within a
capitalist system is due to the fact that the very nature of capitalism is competition, and the goal of
capitalism is not just profits, but the maximization of profits.

While functionalism views capitalism and social class – middle class, for example – as reflective of a
healthy competitive system in which goals, rewards and accomplishment reflect ambition, leadership and
internal drive, SCT argues society is primarily constituted by the decision making powers held by a tiny
percentage of the overall population, a dominant class intimately linked to the economy and capitalism,
for example.

As an extension of this, SCT also sees popular culture as being produced through that same system of
capitalism, and as such, SCT sees the social world and popular culture as arenas of inequality marked
by conflict, discord and unequal access to decision making opportunities, such as social and/or
economic power.

In further entrenching inequality and power as central components of society and popular culture, SCT
contends that determining factors such as race, class, gender and sexuality contribute to the
maintenance of systems of inequality. SCT presents a thesis – an overall argument – that society’s
various social groups are engaged in a continuous struggle over power and influence wherein the
dominant, capitalist class and the working and underclass compete for access and control of the social
institutions and industries assigned decision and policy making power. Social conflict theory is a useful
tool then, for understanding and examining conflicts such as war, wealth, poverty, social justice, activism,
discrimination, the police and crime, as well as the representations and inclusion of each within popular
culture, an important connection to note.

Max Weber’s three dimensions of social inequality:

Class: refers to one’s socio-economic status or privileges as determined by financial

security.
Status: refers to one’s level of social prestige (one may have a low income, but still have a
relatively high social status)

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Power: the degree of social and political influence (one may have a low income and a low
social status, but may also have political power through membership in a political party, or
one may have a modest income but retain power through social activism)

Commodity Culture
As the various components above illustrate, central to contemporary culture and society is the economic
arrangement that society is structured and organized through. For example, financial security and social
class not only determine access to privileges such as vacations, home ownership and social status items
such as a watch, handbag or car, but also to necessities such as food, clothing, shelter and basic mass
transportation.

Contemporary culture is organized around capitalism then, and a key characteristic of capitalism is
commodity culture, for example, the watch, handbag or car noted above. Additionally, a commodity is an
object that is produced for exchange in the market and the market is not only a physical space – a store
inside a shopping mall – but it is also a set of social relationships that are organized around the buying
and selling of those commodity objects.

For example, a commodity is an active object, it can communicate common sense or necessity, a
modest but well-run car, for example, but can also communicate social status and power such as a very
high end car. Additionally, as later modules explore more closely, a commodity can also participate in the
social identity of the person in possession of that commodity. More specifically, Instagram is not only a
platform for providing a visual storyboard of one’s life but also a platform for demonstrating social status
and power through the putting on display of specific commodities.

Symbolic Interaction
Symbolic interaction theory (SIT) examines the production of meaning or meaning-making in both
individual and group settings with a focus on human action and interaction instead of through large-
scale, or macro, social structures or institutions.

For example, symbolic interaction theory is applied in the study of social activist groups, school cliques
such as “jocks or nerds,” as well as subcultural groups like skateboarders or break dancers, and
countercultural groups like youth gangs.

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Evident here is the primacy SIT places on subjective, or, socially constructed, meanings and role those
meanings play in the interpretation and consumption of commodity objects.

Looking Glass Theory (LGT)

Charles Cooley conceived of the looking glass (1902) as a theoretical position examining social
interaction in terms of identity formation and relationships to self and others. For example, Cooley said
“the thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an
imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another’s mind” (Cooley, 1902).

As symbolic interaction theory explains, we interpret our interactions with others through the use of
symbols and gestures of communication and through this system we come to create, present and
maintain a self that we perform socially as social beings.

As social beings in the world interacting and socializing with others, Cooley’s looking glass theory sees
the individual as experiencing three possibilities (Cooley, 1902)

We imagine how we appear to others

We imagine the judgment of our appearance

We develop our self through our feelings towards, and our response to, those perceived judgments

Popular Culture and the Culture Industry

Whereas the first components of this module introduced core sociological theories including structural
functionalism, social conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and sociological imagination, this

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concluding component introduces cultural studies, outlines its connection to sociology and popular
culture, as well as introducing a selection of the core theories of cultural studies.

Defining the term “culture” is a difficult task given the numerous extensions added to the term in order to
specify a more acute or specific focus; for example, popular culture, Canadian culture, subculture, sports
culture and so on. As such, like another broadly applied term, “community,” “culture” is at its foundation a
reference to an organized social world within which shared meanings, identities, norms and traditions
are formed and maintained.

According to Laura Grindstaff, a common form of “sociological research on popular culture is the
‘production of culture’ perspective, which refers to the empirical study of culture-producing organizations
within specific institutional contexts” (Grindstaff, 2008, 208). The idea here is that producing culture
situates culture as a social product and the symbolic meanings and elements of culture are then
understood as not shaped by the people but by the systems that create, produce and distribute the
elements of culture. In other words, this focus is less concerned with interpreting the meanings of
culture and more concerned with examining the systems and characteristics that produce it (Grindstaff,
2008, 208).

In short, this perspective emphasizes the role of dominant culture in producing popular culture and as a
result lends itself to a curious question: if this perspective is accurate, does popular culture provide us
with the content we want or does popular culture provide us with the content it wants us to consume, not
unlike, for example, being asked “what comes first, the chicken or the egg?”

The Culture Industry

As a member of the Frankfurt School, Theodor Adorno wrote The Culture Industry in the 1940s and its
thesis contended that culture industries such as Hollywood were driven by a centralized capitalist ethos
or philosophy that ultimately manipulated the people – the mass population – into a state of perpetual
economic and ideological consumption.

More specifically, Adorno believed that if capitalism came to be viewed and accepted as the normal,
natural and a way of life, the result would produce a constant state of “needing to keep up with everyone
else,” as success was marked by economic achievement and commodity-based consumption. In other
words, a “life worth living” was contingent upon economic success and the consumption of commodity
items to communicate that success to others. Ultimately, The Culture Industry argued that if capitalism
and this system just described was understood as “common sense” it would in turn turn back any
challenges it may face - for example, communism or socialism.

At the root of Adorno’s argument are three central components – consider these in terms of popular
culture in 2021! – beginning with

capitalism, followed by
agreement, and
repetition.

For example, a cultural critic may interpret Hollywood as the central player within these three
components, in that
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a. Hollywood is understandably driven by profit and the popularity of its products

b. Hollywood seemingly participates in a democratic exchange with viewers in terms of content, a
profitable and popular television show reflecting an agreement between industry and viewer, and
c. in recognizing the historical success of the romantic comedy genre, Hollywood continues to
produce movie after movie after movie that when scrutinized often adhere strictly to a narrow and
repetitive set of conventions identified as key elements a romantic comedy’s success is
dependent upon (Adorno, 1991).

Finally, then, the Culture Industry thesis contends that those in power determine and control the
production of entertainment-based products that broadly but specifically appeal to the general tastes and
sensibilities of a majority audience in being relatable and understandable to most viewers. Popular
culture then, as a product of this culture industry – or today, Hollywood – is understood as a factory
capable of mass producing movies and television and in turn providing the viewer with more and more
content to consume and spend money on, and providing Hollywood itself with more work and more
profit, in turn.

Adorno extends his critique into more nefarious areas, and also suggests that the culture industry is not
only bound up in profit but is also an agent of social control, meaning as popular culture is endlessly
imposed upon the people, those consumers are simultaneously naturalized into a state of consumption
and seduction culminating their being lulled into a state of complacent desire for more and a now
perpetual state of consumerism: manipulated into believing the endless consumption of “more of the
same” is pleasurable while also deeply profitable for dominant players within the culture industry
(Adorno, 1991).

Activity: Screening: Bank of Montreal: BMO Knows Ball (2016)

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Summary
Module 1 has introduced you to sociology and the sociology of popular culture. More specifically, and
importantly, you have been introduced to many core sociological concepts and theories such as
ideology, hegemony, structural functionalism and social conflict theory. Each of these will frame and
guide your experience in the course as you begin examining the sociology of popular culture. For
example, ideologies – those ideas and beliefs normalized as dominant and true – are scrutinized
throughout the course as they apply to areas of research and study, including gender, race, youth,
sexuality and consumerism.

Assignment

Test Yourself

Digital Scrapbook Project: Entry 1 due by Friday at 11:59 p.m.

ANSWER to sample multiple choice question: e. B and D

References
Adorno, T. (1991). The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. Harvard University
Press.
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human Nature and the Social Order (pp. 183–184). Scribner.
Fiske, J. (2010). Understanding Popular Culture (2nd Edition). Routledge.

Grindstaff, L. (2008). “Culture and popular culture: A case for sociology.” The Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 619, 206–222.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday.
Hall, S. (1996). Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. Routledge.
Haslam, J. (2016). Thinking Popular Culture. Pearson.
Ivey, B. & Tepper, S. (2006). Cultural renaissance or cultural divide? Chronicle of Higher
Education, 52(37) B6–B8.
Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. Oxford.
Scott, J. (Ed.) (2006). Sociology: The key concepts. Routledge.
Storey, J. (2009). “What is popular culture?” Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An

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introduction. (5th Edition.) 1–14. Pearson Longman, London, UK.

Storey, J. (1993). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An introduction. The University of
Georgia.
Williams, R. (1983). Keywords. Fantasia.

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