Pop Culture: The Importance Of Popular Culture

A site of contestation is a figurative or literal place where there has been struggle or a challenge for control. Pop culture studies our attitude towards topics that are mainstream. Much of the time, we are in a context of conflicting ideas. For example, though we may remember the late 60s in the USA as the time of the hippies of Woodstock, the Civil Rights movement and feminism, President Nixon was elected by “the silent majority” – the good, hard-working, patriotic Americans. Here, the site of contestation was the presidential election, and thus figurative. Other sites of contestation are physical locations, such as the streets. For example, Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington, DC in 1963 is an example of racial oppression being challenged. Sites

Hegemony signifies dominance or rule on society, and also connotes a form of injustice or aggression (Dicionary.com). Popular culture is that that is dominant. However, in a context of globalization where cultures merge, and countercultures exist, it is sometimes difficult to tell what is mainstream. Indeed, hegemony is primordial to the study of pop culture, as it is by definition the study of what is dominant in culture, and also as it is opposed to elite or high culture. Popular culture dominates; however there is a culture separate from it that it exclusive to those who dominate. Hegemony is particularly important in the study of American popular culture, as worldwide the USA’s culture is considered influential. This process is called “Americanization.” Within America as well, hegemony is central to the culture of a country built on the American dream, which sells an ideal of opportunity and meritocracy. In other words, there is not meant to be a set hierarchy, or hegemony, in the USA, of one social group over others. However, this is more of a myth than a reality, as America is marked by a history of oppression of