CultureThe Definition and Evolution of Popular Culture

Teja Peltomaa works as a crisis text line responder for Kids Help Phone in Toronto. She maintains this volunteer position while working toward a bachelor of social work at Ryerson University. A socially interconnected individual, Teja Peltomaa is interested in popular culture.

Sociologically speaking, popular, or “pop,” culture encompasses the beliefs, practices, and objects that embody a social system’s broadly shared experiences. This includes everything from entertainment and leisure objects to fashion trends and linguistic conventions. Such activities and products appeal to, and are accessible by, the general public.

Due to the wide appeal of pop culture, it is often tied to a capitalist viewpoint, and thus is seen primarily as a set of produced commodities. However, pop culture is also sometimes tied with folk culture, which creates a focus on subcultures, like ethnic cultures, more than on commodities.

Experts believe that pop culture grew out of the middle class during the Industrial Revolution. People in this class largely moved from farms to urban environments for work. To connect with their co-workers while keeping distance from their bosses, these workers created their own culture. With the invention of mass media following World War II and the adoption of capitalism in the United States, pop culture began absorbing other social concepts, like consumer culture, media culture, and image culture.