ENEZETA

presents

Important concepts in cultural studies

An Introduction

High Culture

A set of cultural products/practices and/or manifestations highly esteemed by a culture.

The best that has been said and thought in the world. (Matthew Arnold)

The culture of an elite group.

THE Arts

High culture can be said to exist in opposition to...

...popular culture

•A culture of the people...

...for the people.

popular culture

A culture widely favored by many people.

•The culture left over after leaving out what is considered high culture.

popular culture

popular culture

HIGH

LOW

In postmodern theory, the fuzzy terrain between

high and low cultures.

popular culture

•The site of struggle between forces of resistance and of incorporation, between dominant and subordinate cultures/classes (Antonio Gramsci).

HEGEMONY

popular culture

A culture that is commercially produced to be consumed by a mass of non-discriminating

consumers.

counter-culture/kountrklchr/

•A culture with values and mores that run counter to those of established society.

OR...

MAINSTREAM

A way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or

at variance with the prevailing social norm.

counter-culture/kountrklchr/

for example

sub-culture(s)

Ken Gelder proposed key ways in which subcultures can be

identified:

6

sub-culture(s)

By virtue of their negative relation to

work. Subcultures are thus seen as

parasitic, at play or at leisure

1

sub-culture(s)

By virtue of a negative or

ambivalent relation to class. Subcultures refuse to be seen as

being class-conscious or as being defined

by class.

2

sub-culture(s)

By virtue of an association

with/to a defined territory.

3

sub-culture(s)

By virtue of their non-domestic forms of

association.

4

sub-culture(s)

By virtue of a refusal of the banalities of ordinary life and massification.

5

sub-culture(s)

Subcultures adopt particular styles in fashion/clothing, language and behavior and attach a certain symbolism and/or ideology to these elements.

6

CAN YOU THINK OF GROUPS OF PEOPLE

THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED AS A "SUBCULTURE"?

urban tribes

GothsGanguroFloggersRavers

RudeboysAcidheadsSkinheads

Nation BrothersRaggasEmos

Where would you say these cultural

TEXTS belong?

make-up

comics

rockblues

wine

Mohawks

punk music

ShakespeareNike shoes

jeans

classical music

leather jacketsMadonna

Keith Haring’s paintings

A Hundred Years of Solitude

movies

opera jazz

• Baker, Chris. Cultural Studies. 3rd Ed.

• Gelner, Ken. Subcultures: Cultural Histories and Social Practice.

• Storey, John. An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture.

• Music: Easy Jam by Kevin MacLeod. http://incompetech.com

• Images: Counterculture and subculture: wikipedia except anarchism (anarchism.net)Presentation by Nahirana Zambrano

Cultura y Sociedad_InglésEnglish Department

School of Modern LanguagesUniversity of Los Andes, Venezuela

References/Credits