The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch

The article, "The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch", by Leroy Ashby focuses on the changes that have occurred throughout the history of popular culture, and how these changes have been viewed and scrutinized by both the general populous and in the world of academia. It does provide a good amount of historical insight and context, but what is most interesting about the article is the way it describes how popular culture is more than just a means to entertainment, it can also can be a way to define one's self or one's culture. It also describes how popular itself is not all that one-sided, being defined by both the producers and the consumers, as James W. Cooks is quoted in the article as saying, “Neither the producers nor the consumers of this culture maintained complete control”. Reading these articles and taking a more in depth look at popular culture does show how much pop culture does affect us  more than we tend to think.