Name: MISHRIN AKHTAR

B.A. (HONS)
Journalism and Mass Communication
CORE COURSE -6
TERM PAPER

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 IMPACT OF POP CULTURE ON YOUNGSTERS

INTRODUCTION
Popular culture is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of the practices, beliefs and objects
that are dominant in a society at a given point in time. Popular culture also encompasses the activities and
feelings produced as a result of interaction with these dominant objects. Heavily influenced in modern
times by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of people in a given society.
Therefore, popular culture has a way of influencing an individual's attitudes towards certain topics.
However, there are various ways to define pop culture. Because of this, popular culture is something that
can be defined in a variety of conflicting ways by different people across different contexts. It is generally
viewed in contrast to other forms of culture such as folk culture, working-class culture, or high culture, and
also through different theoretical perspectives such as psychoanalysis, structuralism, postmodernism, and
more. The most common pop-culture categories are: entertainment (such as movies, music, television and
video games), sports, news (as in people/places in the news), politics, fashion, technology, and slang.

Today's popular culture is accessible to modern youth in an almost bewildering array of formats, from
social media platforms to good old fashioned print magazines. Between iPhones, iPods, computers,
televisions, and other "delivery systems," adolescents today in most nations are able to access, consume,
and otherwise participate in popular culture offerings ranging from hip-hop music to punk rock attire. It
would seem that today's youth are luckier than ever before in their ability to take part in the popular culture
of their time.

But is this truly lucky? Is it lucky that young girls can be told in an even greater number of ways that their
bodies don't measure up, or that they need to take drugs or drink alcohol in order to fit in? Is it lucky that
young males have an even greater number of ways to learn how to hide their sensitivities so that they can
grow up to be "real men?" Is it lucky that young people of all kinds are exposed to what amounts to
capitalist consumerism on steroids and thus goaded to purchase as much as possible? These and other
influences are definitely not positive.

While it is certainly the case that pop culture can be a valid and healthy expression of youth, it is
unfortunately the case that today's pop culture has a negative effect upon adolescents. This paper will
explore some of the ways in which this assertion can be seen, and some ways it can be mediated.
 FORMATION OF POP CULTURE
Through most of human history, the masses were influenced by dogmatic forms of rule and traditions
dictated by local folk culture. Most people were spread throughout small cities and rural areas – conditions
that were not conducive to a ‘popular’ culture. With the beginning of the Industrial era (late eighteenth
century), the rural masses began to migrate to cities, leading to the urbanization of most Western societies.
Urbanization is a key ingredient in the formation of popular culture. People who once lived in
homogeneous small villages or farms found themselves in crowded cities marked by great cultural
diversity. These diverse people would come to see themselves as a ‘collectivity’ as a result of common, or
popular, forms of expression. Thus, many scholars trace the beginning of the popular culture phenomenon
to the rise of the middle class brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization also brought with it
mass production; developments in transportation, such as the steam locomotive and the steamship;
advancements in building technology; increased literacy; improvements in education and public health; and
the emergence of efficient forms of commercial printing, representing the first step in the formation of a
mass media (e.g. the penny press, magazines, and pamphlets). All of these factors contributed to the
blossoming of popular culture. By the start of the twentieth century, the print industry mass-produced
illustrated newspapers and periodicals, as well as serialized novels and detective stories. Newspapers
served as the best source of information for a public with a growing interest in social and economic affairs.
The ideas expressed in print provided a starting point for popular discourse on all sorts of topics. Fuelled by
further technological growth, popular culture was greatly impacted by the emerging forms of mass media
throughout the twentieth century. Films, broadcast radio and television all had a profound influence on
culture. So urbanization, industrialization, the mass media and the continuous growth in technology since
the late 1700s, have all been significant factors in the formation of popular culture. These continue to be
factors shaping pop culture today.

SOURCES OF POPULAR CULTURE

There are numerous sources of popular culture. As implied above, a primary source is the mass media,
especially popular music, film, television, radio, video games, books and the internet. In addition, advances
in communication allows for the greater transmission of ideas by word of mouth, especially via cell phones.
Many TV programs, such as American Idol and the Last Comic Standing, provide viewers with a phone
number so that they can vote for a contestant. This combining of pop culture sources represents a novel
way of increasing public interest, and further fuels the mass production of commodities. Popular culture is
also influenced by professional entities that provide the public with information. These sources include the
news media, scientific and scholarly publications, and ‘expert’ opinion from people considered an authority
in their field. For example, a news station reporting on a specific topic, say the effects of playing violent
video games, will seek a noted psychologist or sociologist who has published in this area. This strategy is a
useful way of influencing the public and may shape their collective opinions on a particular subject. At the
very least, it provides a starting point for public discourse and differing opinions. News stations often allow
viewers to call or email in their opinions, which may be shared with the public. A seemingly contradictory
source of popular culture is individualism. Urban culture has not only provided a common ground for the
masses, it has inspired ideals of individualistic aspirations. In the United States, a society formed on the
premise of individual rights, there are theoretically no limitations to what an individual might accomplish.
An individual may choose to participate in all that is ‘popular’ for popularity’s sake; or they may choose a
course of action off the beaten track. At times, these ‘pathfinders’ affect popular culture by their
individuality. Of course, once a unique style becomes adopted by others, it ceases to remain unique. It
becomes, popular.
 EXAMPLES OF POPULAR CULTURE

Examples of popular culture come from a wide array of genres, including popular music, print, cyber
culture, sports, entertainment, leisure, fads, advertising and television. Sports and television are arguably
two of the most widely consumed examples of popular culture, and they also represent two examples of
popular culture with great staying power.

Sports are played and watched by members of all social classes, but the masses are responsible for the huge
popularity of sports. Some sporting events, such as the World Cup and the Olympics, are consumed by a
world community. Sports are pervasive in most societies and represent a major part of many people’s lives.
Showing allegiance to a team as a means of self-identification is a common behaviour.

 INFLUENCE ON YOUNGSTERS

Pop culture strongly influences teens on many levels. It affects them psychologically (how they think),
behaviourally (what they do), and emotionally (how they feel). In addition to that, it affects how they
express characteristics of their maturation. It has both negative and positive effects.

 INFLUENCES YOUTH’S SELF-DEFINATION

A very important characteristic of every youngster’s maturation is her self-definition (the way you see
yourself). For them, that image is influenced to a huge extent by personal choices. Their self-definition is
slightly impacted by the pop culture. It can provide benchmarks to which teenagers attach their self-
definition.

 REPLICATE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS OR CELEBRITIES

Teens enjoy dressing up like their favourite stars or following their lives. Celebrity influence is not
always beneficial for teens as many teens struggle to meet an impossible standard. They want to imitate
their favourite celebrities or a character from Netflix series. Some teens are even turning to plastic surgery
to look like their favourite stars. The influence of popular celebrities does not stop at the appearance. Some
teens also model their behaviour after music moguls, movie stars and reality television cast members.
Teens under this amount of influence may change the way they talk to and treat other people. These
sentiments can distract them from key aspects of their development.

 MISINTERPRETED ACTIONS

Trending Hookah

The thought of hookah has thought to have originated in medieval India. Once the province of the wealthy,
it was tremendously popular especially during Mughal rule. The hookah has since become less popular;
however, it is once again garnering the attention of the masses, and cafés and restaurants that offer it as a
consumable are popular. Especially youngsters smoke hookah and go partying in clubs to maintain status
among friends, it has become one of the most practiced popular cultures.

Meaningful Tattoo to Trending Tattoo

Dying White Hair to Dying Hair in White

People used to dye their hair to hide white hairs but now being influenced by the pop culture of
highlighting and dyeing hair in multiple colours like rainbow, without having a thought about their
appearance and lifestyle. College girls and boys are highly passionate about dyeing or highlighting their
hair.

Technology is Trendsetter

In childhood we were taught to pray before eating our food but today’s smart phone generation uploads a
photo of their food on Social media like Instagram or Facebook. Using headphones in public transports and
listening to western music, to be sophisticated and stand different among all is another influential pop
culture.

EXPLANATION OF THE PROBLEM

One problem caused by the influence of popular culture on youth can be seen in academic endeavours.
Specifically, students do not always know how to evaluate what they learn in the course of their
consumption of pop-culture texts, and so when they bring these ideas and "facts" into the classroom, they
often do so in a misguided fashion. Instead of turning to academic sources for help in understanding the
classroom materials, students are increasingly turning to such sources as "cartoons and video games" as
authoritative sources which, they believe, can speak to the academic issues they are seeking to understand.
Moreover, students are tending to use popular culture to silence dissent among their own ranks, so to speak
- meaning, in other words, that they are eschewing a true dialogue about ideas in favour of consumerist
pop-culture groupthink.

Another, related, negative influence of popular culture on youth is that such texts "position young people to
assume subjectivities that are heavily informed by the ideologies and discourses of popular/corporate
culture". Furthermore, youth are not just influenced by these popular culture texts, but are made popular (or
not) by how strongly they affiliate with the corporate ideologies embodied in the texts. In other words,
popular culture pressures adolescents to conform to particular capitalist/consumerist ideologies and, when
they do not, they lose status.

Popular culture can seduce young people into valuing a world that is based upon both superficial things
(e.g. fashion) and potentially dangerous activities (e.g. drug use). She points out that in the absence of a
substantive dialogue which engages and critiques popular culture, as well as the ubiquity of expressions
that popular culture can take in today's technological society; adolescents are lured into seemingly
"enviable lifestyles" that focus upon substance use/abuse and material things. In other words, adolescents
today can become far more enmeshed in youth-oriented popular culture than ever before.
 SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

Parents, teachers, and other adult caregivers can help mediate the negative effects of popular culture by
helping young people engage with it, from a very early age, so as to better distinguish between "garbage"
and valuable materials. Along those lines, stresses the importance of not allowing "adult," classic, and other
counter texts to fall by the wayside. Educators and parents need to balance popular culture offerings with
consistently substantial, high-quality materials, whether or not young people are especially interested in
them at first. By helping youth tie these texts in with their current popular culture interests, adults can help
minimize the negative impact of popular culture.

Adults can engage in popular culture offerings together with young people. In other words, young people
would not just be taught to interrogate popular culture on their own, but they would be joined in the task by
educated adults.

OPPOSITION
Of all identity groups, youth are the ones most systematically denied political agency. One could then
argue, by extension, that adults should leave popular culture alone - let young people have their own world
in which they are empowered. Looks to his own youth to see that grown-ups ridiculed him and his popular
culture, to the point that he felt there was no "talking with" them, but rather, they talked and he did not
listen. This might lead to the conclusion that "allowing" young people their popular culture is a way to
make them feel valued and safe. These and other arguments focus upon the use of popular culture as a
space in which adolescents can "be who they are" and, as such, should be left alone.

CONCLUSION

Why, though, should adolescents be left alone to navigate one of the most turbulent periods of their lives?
Should they have no protection - whether internal or external - against the very real negative influences of
popular culture? After all, these negative effects are potentially far more damaging than, say, a bad haircut
or two. Moreover, as seen in the solutions which were proposed earlier, one need not forbid adolescents
from consuming popular culture in order to mediate the negative effects of same. The conclusion is clear:
while popular culture can have negative effects on adolescents, those who are concerned with them can
take very real steps to help temper these effects, thus creating a win-win situation for all.