Popular culture, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary (2011), is “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by a people in a place or time”. Popular culture can describe those elements in our lives which are the current trends, things that will change frequently such as the top television show American Idol, or the number one performing artist Lady Gaga. Popular culture is unlike high culture or folk culture in that it is not specific to an economic class, educational background, or specific social status. Popular culture is available to anyone and affects everyone.
If popular culture encompasses such a broad spectrum of things that affect us daily, then the workplace is also affected by popular culture. If you think in terms of technology and popular culture, things such as the i-Phone, i-Pad, emails, BlackBerry phones, and MP3 players will spring to mind. These are all items that are used in many offices across the globe, but also symbols of popular culture. They have revolutionized how we communicate, when we communicate; thus also how we work. It is perfectly normal to be a local coffee shop, likely a Starbucks, and observe someone using their BlackBerry as their portable office while also enjoying their morning coffee in their sweats, or a group of students using a few tables as their personal study room with their laptops and books spread everywhere.
In my own life, popular culture is also invading the workplace in the terms of technology that we are beginning to use. The i-Phone is on the rise as the preferred cell phone that is offered at work as is the recently released BlackBerry Torch. These phones have allowed our employees to have a virtual office at their fingertips any time of day or night. They have given our field technicians the ability to send us information while working at one of our sites in the middle of the Arizona desert. The importance of technology is just one way that popular culture has invaded my work place. My employer, First Solar, is a company that could be considered a part of popular culture. The current trends and movements toward green energies has given rise to an entirely new business landscape, one of which is solar panels. My company is a product of that movement, so without the popular culture pushing green energy to the masses, I would not be so gainfully employed in such an interesting and amazing field. In our field, we have to stay on top of current and upcoming trends in energy and construction in order to continue to stay relevant to our customers.
When considering an example of a popular culture artifact, several things sprang to mind such as the Atari game console, anything Michael Jackson, MTV, and many other things. One item I choose as an example of popular culture is this image of the Rolling Stones first album released in the U.S. called “England’s Newest Hit Makers”. I choose this album cover because it represents the beginning of a career for one of the most influential musical groups of all time. At the time of release in 1964 the civil rights movement was well under way, and then this album comes out which is a white English band singing R&B style rock music. With rock music still in its infancy and being defined, this showcased Rolling Stones as one of the leaders in rock music. I personally think of The Rolling Stones as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, rock bands of all time, which is another reason I choose this as my artifact.
References
Keno Internet Services. (2011). Album Ratings: England’s Newest Hit Makers. Retrieved November 12, 2011 from: http://www.keno.org/rolling_stones.htm.
Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2009). Common Culture, Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture, sixth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Popular Culture (2011). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved November 12, 2011 from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture.
Wright, N. (Photographer). (1964). The Rolling Stones England’s Newest Hitmakers [Photograph]. Retrieved November 12, 2011 from: http://www.rollingstones.com/album/englands-newest-hitmakers.
No comments:
Post a Comment