This article urges sociologists interested in popular culture to adopt a phenomenological perspective focused upon the problem of the meaning of popular culture as world of symbolic forms. It is argued that this problem requires a conceptual apparatus that focuses directly upon culture, now seen as not wholly derivative of social structure, and a view of society as a socially constructed meaningful world rather than an external container that determines action. The proposed approach, which looks at popular culture as a documentary record of the meaningful realities built by social groups, is illustrated by application to recent American developments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bell, D. (1976) The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic Books.
2.
——— (1973) The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books.
3.
Bensman, J. and A.J. Vidich (1971) The New American Society. Chicago : Quadrangle.
4.
Blumer, H. (1969) "Fashion: from class differentiation to collective selection." Soc. Q.10: 275-291.
5.
Burke, K. (1968) Language as Symbolic Action. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
6.
Burns, T. (1973) "Leisure in industrial society," pp. 40-55 in M. A. Smith, S. Parker, and C. S. Smith (eds.) Leisure and Society in Britain. London: Allen Lane.
——— and J.J. Quirk (1970) "The mythos of the electronic revolution." Amer. Scholar39: 219-241, 395-424.
9.
Cassirer, E. (1944) An Essay on Man. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
10.
Cawelti, J.G. (1973) "Notes toward an aesthetic of popular culture," pp. 45-59 in R. B. Browne (ed.) Popular Culture and the Expanding Consciousness. New York : John Wiley.
11.
——— (1970) The Six-Gun Mystique. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green Univ. Press.
12.
Chevalier, M. (1839) Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States . Boston: Weeks, Jordan.
13.
Dawe, A. (1970) "The two sociologies." British J. ofSociology21: 207-218.
14.
Douglas, J. (1970) Understanding Everyday Life. Chicago: Aldine.
15.
Duncan, H.D. (1968) Symbols in Society. New York : Oxford Univ. Press.
16.
Durkheim, E. (1938) The Rules of the Sociological Method. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
17.
Fromm, E. (1947) Man for Himself. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
18.
Galbraith, J.K. (1967) The New Industrial State. Boston : Houghton Mifflin.
19.
Gans, H.J. (1974) Popular Culture and High Culture. New York: Basic Books.
20.
——— (1972) ''The politics of culture in America," pp. 372-385 in D. McQuail (ed.) Sociology of Mass Communications. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
21.
- and A. KREILING (1976) "What ideas? Which consequences?"J. of Communication26: 223-224.
22.
Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
23.
Glasser, R. (1973) "Leisure and the search for a satisfying identity ," pp. 56-65 in M. A. Smith, S. Parker, and C. S. Smith (eds.) Leisure and Society in Britain. London: Allen Lane.
24.
Hartz, L. (1955) The Liberal Tradition in America. New York: Harcourt Brace & World.
25.
Hirsch, P.M. (1978) "Social science approaches to popular culture." J. of Popular Culture.
26.
Irwin, J. (1977) Scenes. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
27.
Klapp, O.E. (1969) Collective Search for Identity. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
28.
Kreiling, A. (1975) "A conflict model."J. of Communication25: 203.
29.
Langer, S.K. (1942) Philosophy in a New Key. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
30.
MacDonald, D. (1962) Against the American Grain. New York: Random House.
31.
Mills, C.W. (1951) White Collar. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
32.
Nisbet, R.A. (1966) The Sociological Tradition. New York: Basic Books.
33.
Park, R.E. (1950) Race and Culture. New York: Free Press.
34.
Phillips, G. (1966) The Arts in a Democratic Society. Santa Barbara, CA: Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.
35.
Potter, D.M. (1965) "American individualism in the twentieth century," pp. 92-112 in G. Mills (ed.) Innocence and Power. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
36.
Riesman, D. (1950) The Lonely Crowd. New Haven : Yale Univ. Press.
37.
Thomas, W.I. and D.S. Thomas (1928) The Child in America. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.
38.
Toffler, A. (1965) The Culture Consumers. Baltimore : Penguin.
39.
Tonnies, F. (1961) Custom: An Essay on Social Codes. New York: Free Press.
40.
Vidich, A.J. and J. Bensman (1968) Small Town in Mass Society. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
41.
Weber, M. (1968) Economy and Society. New York : Bedminster Press.
42.
Zijderveld, A.C. (1970) The Abstract Society. New York : Doubleday.
