Mass culture are all kinds of cultural expressions produced in the Cultural Industry, with the aim of reaching as many people as possible. Its focus is essentially commercial, that is, to generate products for consumption.
Popular and high culture they are produced respectively by the popular and elite classes. Jis mass culture is produced for the masses, not by the masses (people).
Mass culture creates products that can be consumed by most people, following a pattern for immediate consumption.
Some examples of mass culture, they are:
- Music, movies, dance genres, television series, magazines, cartoons, fashion, gastronomy and so on.
Radio, television, newspapers, magazines and, above all, the internet are the main allies of the Cultural Industry for the dissemination of mass culture.
They function as the means of communication that helps in the process of cultural distribution to consumers (the mass).
It is noteworthy that the term "mass" is not related, in this case, to social classes, but only to the group formed by the majority of people in a society.
Cultural Industry and Mass Culture
The concepts of Cultural Industry and Mass Culture were coined by the famous Frankfurt School, in Germany. This school was led by authors Theodor Adorno (1903 - 1969), Max Horkheimer (1895 - 1973) and Walter Benjamin (1892 - 1940).
The authors understood that unlike High Culture and Popular Culture, Mass Culture is produced for the masses and not by them.
Mass Culture is produced by the Cultural Industry, that is, a group of large companies that belong to the ruling class that aim to produce culture.
Indústria Cultura seeks to massify and standardize elements and values of erudite and popular culture, in the form of products and services for mass consumption.
This massification is done through soap operas, movies, series, shows, TV shows, among others.
know more about What is Cultural Industry it's the Meaning of Culture.
Mass Culture, Popular Culture and High Culture
THE high culture it involves all types of production that require greater technical elaboration, based on studies and critical analysis of the content. This type of culture is usually aimed at social and economic elites. It is mainly consumed by intellectuals.
already the popular culture, unlike the erudite, is the one who is born from the people in a natural way. It is characterized by manifestations that express the cultural identity of a specific community.
Mass culture can use elements that are particular to both popular and erudite culture, but trivializing and ignoring their original content.
This is due to the fact that the Cultural Industry only values what is in the taste of the masses and which has lucrative potential, marginalizing other legitimate cultural manifestations.
A lot of people get confused, but popular culture and mass culture are totally different. The first is the result of the people, of the cultural identity of a society. The second is a product of the Cultural Industry and is not intended to carry or transmit symbolic values.
See more about the meaning of:
- Erudite
- Popular culture
- high culture
- Culture for Sociology
- Popular culture
- Cultural diversity
- Types of Culture
