Mass Culture Flashcards
What is Mass Culture?
MC is a term used by Marxists to describe a type of culture made by big businesses with the intention of profiting from the masses within society mainly the working classes.
How is Mass Culture altered by its creators and why is it changed?
It is dumbed down and made more accessible by simplifying its content.
By making it more available to a wider audience the creators can maximise profits as a larger group are attracted to consume these cultural products.
How would a Marxist explain why the culture has been dumbed down?
They believe that this culture has been simplified to cause the working classes to become uncritical and docile. This means they won’t question the government and therefore have less influence politically because they don’t consider the issues in a great detail as they aren’t used to doing so with the types of cultural products they consume.
How is Mass Culture different to Popular Culture?
Popular Culture is not made with the sole intention of generating profit but created by individuals who have a passion for their field and wish to share that with others.
Mass Culture carries negative connotations of businesses greedily profiting from blind consumers who consume their products like zombies. However interpretations of their intentions vary between people of different political viewpoints.
Give some examples of Mass Cultural products
- Sequels of films made with minimal effort or originality.
- Certain sports events that simply want to sell tickets and will do anything to make money regardless of the consequences that arise.
