Folk and Popular Culture

Review

What is the difference?

Folk Culture• Small, homogenous groups• Rural areas• Share customs

– Repetitive act done by a group that becomes a characteristic of the overall group

• Local diversity• Close relationships with few

Pop Culture• Large, heterogeneous groups• Share habits

– Repetitive act done by an individual– Doesn’t imply that it’s been adopted

by most people• Globalization more likely• Less likely to reflect diversity• More likely to modify the

environment• Impersonal relationships with

many– Weak family structure

Origins

Folk Culture• Anonymous hearths• Or multiple hearths

– Independent and isolated from one another

• Music– Tell a story– Share information– Daily life

Popular Culture• MDC• Increased leisure time and

technology – Tertiary sector jobs give

people free time• Music

– Written for being sold– Originated around 1900– WWII diffusion

Examples

Folk Culture• Amish (PA)• Gypsies (Europe)• Maori (New Zealand)

Popular Culture• Hip-hop• “Soccer moms”

Folk Culture in the United States

Diffusion• Relocation: People move from one place to another, taking

ideas with them• Expansion: Snowball effect- as it spreads the total number of

“followers” increases– Hierarchical: Leapfrogging of ideas from one important person or

place to another• Temporarily skipping insignificant places• Sports

– Contagious: Wavelike spreading, no attention to hierarchy– Stimulus: The specific trait is rejected, but the overall idea is accepted

• Reindeer domestication came from Siberian peoples seeing domestication of cattle. They didn’t need cattle!

Diffusion

Folk Culture• Diffusion is slower

– Traditional cultures have more resistance to change

– Amish are a good example• Diffusion is not always known

– Blowguns- found all over, but where did they start?

– Two options:• Independent invention• Relocation diffusion

– Many cultures have been traditionally illiterate

Popular Culture• Hierarchal

– Because pop culture is stratified by socioeconomic class

– Starts in urban areas– Major world cities!– McDonalds

• Time distance decay not much of a factor

• Walmart– Contagous at first– Also reverse hierarchal diff.

• Advertising causes diffusion

Other words• Distance decay: The presence of a trait diminishes as

distance increases• Time-distance decay: Acceptance decreases with distance

and time• Absorbing barriers: A block to the spread of a trait

– The Taliban abolished television in 1998• Neighborhood Effect: Acceptance is usually most rapid in

small clusters around an initial adopter• Placelessness: A spatial standardization the diminishes

regional variety and demeans the human spirit– Pop culture takes away unique characteristics

Folk Culture- Location

• The environment influences folk culture– How?

• Housing• Tools• Food• Isolation promotes diversity– Sacred Spaces: Java- front door faces south –the

direction of the South Sea Goddess; Fiji- Eastern walls are sacred; Madagasar- west is most important direction;

Houses….yay

Distribution of Pop Culture

Distribution of Pop Culture

Diffusion of Pop Culture

Globalization

• Threat to folk culture?• What are environmental impacts?– Modifying nature– Uniform landscapes– Negative environment (resources)– Pollution