Drop the phrase “pop culture” into a conversation, and the people you’re talking with will likely conjure images of Hula Hoops, Pet Rocks, Britney Spears or reality shows. Words like “vapid,” “transient” and “shallow” may flash through their minds.
Despite its much-maligned image, popular culture, or “pop” culture as it is more commonly known, is a vital component in the story of humanity. For that reason, pop culture history warrants exploration. Besides, it’s fun to talk about.
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It doesn’t cure diseases, topple nations or make technological advances—unless one considers things like Les Paul’s development of multi-track music recording a technological advancement, which I, for one, do—but pop culture reveals many facets of human behavior throughout history. It is hard to define the human experience without it.
The Genesis of Popular Culture
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Written scores gave musical creations wider audiences. Library of Congress.
Three early, significant popular-culture mileposts are, in chronological order, wedding ceremonies, music performed from written scores, and the establishment of fashion styles.
Wedding ceremonies, predating even Biblical accounts, began traditions based on religious tenets and quickly became engrained in society.
During the Renaissance composers began committing notes to paper and thus created the opportunity for music to be shared beyond first-person familiarity. For the first time, a piece of music could be performed by someone who had never heard it.
Fashion styles that took clothing beyond mere functionality were initially set by royalty and aristocracy, but societal changes like the emergence of the French bourgeois class and simple technological advances in clothing manufacture such as the sewing machine gave style a broader “popular” appeal. Thus, in a couple hundred years we went from tights and lace cuffs for European aristocracy to modern teenagers wearing their pants around their knees.
Shakespeare the Superstar
Popular Culture Becomes Global
Popular culture didn’t require satellite television and the Internet to become global. When the first explorers took to the seas or traveled overland routes to distant places, they were influenced by, and returned with, examples of other cultures’ popular art, artifacts and customs, such as drinking coffee. If that hadn’t caught on, Starbucks would be stuck trying to sell cups of hot, frothy milk for three bucks a pop.
The masses were usually not the first to experience exotic forms of popular culture, but they were exposed to them over time. The mixture of popular elements of different cultures was also one of the factors that began to blur the lines between popular and fine arts. While Kabuki Theater was accessible to all classes of Japanese people, Europe’s aristocrats initially regarded it as high art.
The Age of Industrialization: Relax, Enjoy
In the case of popular arts especially (theater, dance, music and more recently movies and television), the masses must have sufficient time and resources to enjoy these arts. Technology is the catalyst that made this possible.
Current Eventsmac's History Timeline
Even though many 19th-century industrial laborers worked long hours, they did not generally work the dawn-to-dusk, seven-day-a-week schedules of agrarian toilers—cows need milking even on the Sabbath—and industrial laborers had more money in their pockets. This enabled them to enjoy entertainment venues and engage in hobbies, crafts and recreation outside their work lives. Life became more than survival, family and religion. The concentration of people in urban areas, attracted by jobs in the factories, also gave rise to more and different kinds of popular art forms by concentrating potential audiences.
Technology and Pop Culture
The sewing machine provided new fashions for everyone. Currier and Ives, Library of Congress.
Pop Culture History Portal
Historynet.com offers this Pop Culture mini-page with linked articles to advance the knowledge of the role pop culture history has played in changing human history and how it continues to do so, in order to better understand its effects on the history of human endeavor.
An important aspect in the study of pop culture is opinion. What makes some elements of pop culture forgettable while others become timeless? What do you regard as some of the most important—or maybe just memorable—contributions of pop culture in history? Give us your opinions in the Comments section below.
I remember that so many kids in high school would complain about history class, but they clearly did not understand all of the important reasons to study history. They did not understand what a big impact our history can have on us today. And they certainly did not understand how learning history can help us shape our future.
1. Understand Society
Of all of the reasons to study history, this one might be the most important. How can we being to understand society today without understand what created it? The events and people that shaped who we are today are incredibly important.
2. Understand Change
Going along with understanding society, studying history allows us a look into what causes change. The events leading up to both World Wars help us understand how a small event can set off a large series of changes. History gives us the opportunity to see how daily life has changed over the years, and what goes into the fostering that change.
3. Provides Sense of Identity
It is no wonder that websites like Ancestry.com are so popular. People are intrigued to know where they came from. What blood runs in their veins? Is there any interesting family history? Knowing the history of your family is very important to some people in finding a sense of identity.
4. Preserves Stories
It is important we hear the stories of those before us. I find talking to my grandmother fascinating because she tells me so many stories of what it was like growing up in her time. I think it is important to hear what those before us have to say. We need to hear their stories, preserve them, and pass them down to those after us.
5. Inspire Us
Hearing the stories of those before us can inspire us to take action in our own lives. Knowing that my ancestors came to this country and worked their hardest for a better life, inspires me to work my hardest of provide for my future family. Our past can have a huge impact on our future and we need that inspiration to teach us that.
6. Teach Us Warning Signs
In the Jewish community, we pray that another Holocaust will never happen to any group of people every again. But because of our suffering, we have learned the warning signs leading up to such a horror. Society has been able to take these warning signs and fight against them when they seem them in the present day. Knowing what events led up to a large occasion helps up better predict and influence our future.
7. Help Us Be Better People
Some people view history as a boring and unimportant subject, but one of the most important reasons to study history is that is will make you a better person. You will have a better understanding of the world and what shaped it into the world it is today. You will understand the suffering, joy, and chaos that were necessary for the present day to happen.
Current Eventsmac's History Historical
Some people think history is very boring, and I never understood those people. It is a giant story that leads up to you. It tells you about the lives of people who lived hundreds of years before you. And it can help you understand and mold the world around you. What did you think of my reasons to study history? What are some reasons you think it is important to study history? Did you enjoy studying history in school?