High and low culture Free Essay Example, 2000 words

In other words, the distinction between the high and the low culture shows the difference of culture as an activity promoting specific social beliefs and perceptions and culture as part of the daily life. In the second case, culture needs to incorporate or reflect the challenges of people as members of a community. If regarded as only a means for promoting specific interests, culture is isolated from the daily social life becoming close to the elite class. As analyzed in the study of Johnston (2006) the low culture has been often considered as the main tool for identifying the elements of the daily life of people within a specific social context, a target which cannot be achieved by observing the high culture which is likely to show exceptional modes of life, meaning the cultural preferences of the elite (Johnston 20). However, it is noted that the forms of low culture are often of poor quality, meaning that their aesthetic is limited, compared to high culture. It is explained that this problem has been made clear since the Renaissance (Johnston 20). We will write a custom essay sample on High and low culture or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The review of the historical development of high and low culture leads to the assumption that the distinction of these forms of culture should be considered as the result of the modernist period. As noted in the study of Bertens (236) the ‘great divide’ developed during the modernist period led to the distinction of culture to high and low in order to respond to the needs of the elite class of the above period. In the post-modernism period, the distance between the high and low culture was decreased – under the influence of the increase of power of middle/ low social classes, a result of the radical increase of population globally. The relationship between post-modernism and high/ low culture is emphasized in the study of Jameson (1983, 1984), of Ulmer (1985) and of Hirsch (1987). In accordance with Jameson, the limitation of the distance between the high and low culture, should be related with the appearance of popular culture as a mass culture (Jameson, 1983 in Giroux 62). Popular culture, as a form of culture, was introduced in order to show the forms of culture that are popular to the high percentage of the population, i.e. popular culture refers to the favorable culture of the majority of people, not necessarily restricted in terms of geography. On the other hand, it should be noted, that the popular culture is often characterized as low culture, i.e. of culture of poor quality, as this problem is described using the term ‘kitsch’ (Giroux 62); the above fact proves that even if the differentiation between high and low culture has been limited, still the acceptance of popular culture as part of modern culture is in doubt.