Cultural contexts and cultural change

Overview

Cultural context of a media product, cultural appropriation and cultural capital.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is the cultural context of a media product?

   Model answer

   The cultural context is the shared meanings, traditions, tastes and reference points of a group. Products assume that their audience recognises these.

2. 2

   Distinguish high culture from popular culture.

   Model answer

   High culture describes forms historically valued by elites, such as opera and literary fiction. Popular culture describes forms consumed widely, such as television drama and pop music.

3. 3

   Why has the distinction between high and popular culture weakened?

   Model answer

   Critics now analyse popular forms with the seriousness once reserved for high culture. A streaming service or social platform mixes the two in a single feed.

4. 4

   What is meant by a subculture?

   Model answer

   A subculture is a group within a society whose values, style and tastes differ from the mainstream. Media products both serve subcultures and package them for the mainstream.

5. 5

   How does a product signal that it belongs to a subculture?

   Model answer

   A product uses the dress, music, language and visual style the subculture recognises. Outsiders read those signals as unfamiliar or oppositional.

6. 6

   What is cultural appropriation, and why is it contested in media analysis?

   Model answer

   Cultural appropriation is the use of a minority culture's forms by a dominant one, often without credit or understanding. Critics disagree over where exchange ends and exploitation begins.

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