Defining Popular American Culture

Defining Popular American Culture

The study of culture is very important to our society, as we have been studying our past and identities for as long as we can recall. Studying our cultures allows us to understand each other as a people, so we can comprehend what we have done, and possibly, what we may do. As we study American popular culture, we see something that began as almost nothing, to a group of patterns that has captured the minds of not only the American people themselves, but the whole world, as well.
Popular culture is a set of patterns, beliefs, symbolic structures, and activities that are well liked by a group of people, as a whole. These beliefs could almost be said as being shared by everyone. This popular culture is mostly defined and determined by the mass media. This is because the mass media is most often the medium used to relay ideas, messages, and most importantly, the news of the times. As the mass media expresses its opinions, the people comprehend and adopt their own opinions based on information processed. As we start to understand popular culture, it is important that we realize the significance the mass media plays on forming what is known as the popular culture.
American popular culture extends over far reaches in our lives. Culture includes how we eat, what we eat, where, and even when. Culture dictates how we go to work, what type of work we do, and what we do to enjoy our time away from work. We as people may not realize the patterns that we follow in our day to day lives. As we study how our cultures came about, hundreds of years before, we can learn why we partake in the activities we choose, at our present. As part of this assignment, students were asked to examine their day to day routines, and making notes of all contact with popular culture. In doing so, we can begin to see how deeply it affects our lives. A log was made over the course of three days, documenting all of our regular and irregular activities. Of course,