What is mass culture and what types are there?

Have you ever heard of mass culture? In the current scenario in which we live, this term is a phenomenon that influences and shapes the way we see the world.

It has been happening since we began to see the power of media, technology and experience globalization.

Today we are going to understand what globalization is and how it has been influencing our daily behavior.

What is mass culture?

The culture of mass, these are cultural expressions that are produced with a focus on exponentially reaching the greatest number of people possible.

It refers to a set of ideas, practices, images, objects and forms of entertainment that are widely disseminated and consumed by a large number of people in a society.

The phenomenon began around the 20th century (20), when the media of mass began to emerge bringing entertainment without philosophical elements that were previously related to art and culture.

With mass culture, the sole purpose of art and culture becomes reproduction, being created until the public gets tired of it.

When we talk about this type of culture, the objective is to create what will serve local or global capitalism, often as copies of existing media, without creating authentic works.

Mass culture encompasses a wide range of cultural elements, including pop music, film, television, popular literature, fashion, popular sports, games and digital entertainment, celebrities, food and drink, internet culture and advertising, among others.

These elements are produced on a large scale and are generally aimed at meeting the preferences and interests of a wide audience.

A current example of what we can see is the trends of TikTok, that when one person starts doing it and it works, others start doing it too with the aim of having this visualization promoted by trends.

Mass culture plays a important role in the formation of identity and cultural heritage of a society and often reflects the prevailing values, trends and preferences of an era.

And the ways in which this type of culture manifests itself are always evolving due to advances in technology, changes in public preferences, global cultural influences and even across generations.

It plays a significant role in contemporary life and the way people interact and relate to culture and entertainment.

Despite this important factor, there is also criticism of mass culture, as many people claim that it will lead to superficiality and homogenization of culture.

What are its elements?

Within mass culture we can find several significant elements, let's see what they are:

Pop Music

It encompasses popular and widely accessible songs and artists, often with catchy choruses and aimed at diverse audiences.

With marketing and social media, they began to spread more and more across the internet, becoming 'trends' or reaching their dedicated audience.

Cinema and Television

It includes blockbuster films, popular television series and entertainment programs that attract large audiences.

With streaming, dissemination is increasingly widespread, reaching every corner of the world and generating more and more audience.

Popular Literature

This includes bestselling novels, genre literature (such as mystery, science fiction, and romance novels), self-help books, and other types of widely read books.

With social media, many books become widely publicized and idolized by the media, and may become adaptations in the future.

Advertising and Brands

It involves advertising campaigns that become part of popular culture and brands that play an important role in everyday life.

Nowadays, marketing campaigns and strategies are increasingly elaborate and complex, as is the case with major music festivals that feature incredible activations.

Games and Digital Entertainment

This involves popular video games, mobile apps, game streaming, and other forms of digital entertainment.

Asian Pop Culture

In recent years, Asian pop culture, including music such as K-pop, cinema such as dramas and Japanese anime and manga, has gained prominence globally.

Many people have started to adopt Asian practices in their daily lives, with elements of makeup, fashion, entertainment and others.

Types of mass culture

The culture of mass can be consumed, capitalist, and have other aspects, such as erudite and popular culture.

Mass culture and consumerism

This globalization and form of culture that we are experiencing today is directly linked to consumerism, in which products are always produced and sold on a large scale.

With marketing as the main ally in promoting these products, further fueling and stimulating unbridled consumption.

Mass Culture and Capitalism

In addition to being related to consumerism, culture can also be linked to capitalism, driven by profit and the market.

Capitalism influences cultural trends, as popular cultural products can generate significant profits

High culture

A contrast to mass culture is high culture, which focuses on works of art, literature, music, and other forms of cultural expression.

In high culture, they are considered to be of high artistic value and are often less accessible to the general public, often being associated with the intellectual elite and formal education.

Popular Culture

Mass culture is also related to popular culture, although these two concepts are not identical.

Often referring to cultural expressions that are widely accepted and shared by a specific group of people in a given community or culture.

It includes elements of mass culture, also encompassing elements of local traditions, folklore and other expressions related to more specific groups.

In this way we can understand that mass culture is often driven by consumerism and capitalism, with products that are very accessible and widely marketed.

However, it coexists with other cultural strands, such as high culture, elite culture and popular culture, shared by specific groups, and the boundaries between these forms of culture can be fluid and complex.

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