skip navigation

Communication & Media

When the University Went ‘Pop’: Exploring Cultural Studies, Sociology of Culture, and the Rising Interest in the Study of Popular Culture

By Lynn Schofield Clark, University of Denver (January 2008)

Section: Communication & Media

Subjects: Sociology of Media, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Popular Culture, Sociology of Culture and Media, Sociology of Popular Culture, Culture.

People: Bourdieu, Pierre.

Key Topic: entertainment.

Abstract

This article examines why the study of popular culture has taken off as a subject of university course offerings and as a topic of scholarly inquiry since the 1980s. Placing the current explorations of popular culture in historical context, the article argues that popular culture's study and studies in the sociology of culture can illuminate many of the classic concerns that animate sociology and related fields, such as the social organization and power of institutions, debates about public life and the formation of public opinion, concerns about the relationship between consumption, social status, and politics of the privileged elite, and the role of media in the development of social movements and in individual and subcultural understandings. The article considers how popular cultural studies are currently shaping the study of social life, and concludes by considering trends that might be encouraged among students and emergent scholars seeking to study in this area.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00058.x

This article abstract has been viewed 3773 times.

view cite Add to my Compass

Add to VLE/CMS feedback

Top 5 related articles

[All related articles]

Top 5 Related Blackwell Reference Chapters

[All Related Reference Chapters]

Quick Search

Related Blackwell Reference Chapters

Sociology Compass - Personal Subscription Rates

Sign up for free Sociology Compass content alerts

Keep up-to-date

Sociology Compass Blog

"…a valuable tool for finding your way through our complex discipline."

Joel Best

Sociology Compass Editor-in-Chief
University of Delaware, USA

 
[ access key 0 : accessibility information including access key list ] [ access key 1 : home page ] [ access key 2 : skip navigation] [ access key 6 : help ]