1. What is “culture”?
One approach:
Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 1867
• “the best that has been thought and said in the world”
• breakdown in authority brought about by working class
culture
2. Cultural Studies Approach:
Culture is how we live nature.
Culture is the practices and processes of making meanings
with and from the “texts” we encounter in our everyday lives
Example: South Texas “culture”
3. Culture and Power
“Cultures” are made from the production, circulation and
consumption of meanings.
Because texts can mean different things, there is often
struggle over what they mean.
4. What is popular culture?
John Fiske: Two economies of cultural production
INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY: produced by industry
POPULAR ECONOMY: produced by people
Popular culture is made useful, meaningful, “popular” by
the people, not industry.
5. Books and Magazines
History of Printing
•Gutenberg's (re)invention of movable type and
mechanical printing (1450)
"Chapbooks" books of poetry, ballads, or prose
6. Early American Book Publishing
•Bay Psalm Book, 1640
•Poor Richard's Almanac by Ben Franklin
•Political pamphlets:
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
7. Early Magazines
• UK in 1700s
• "miscellanies"
After American Revolution
• means for political expression
Copyright Act of 1790:
• copyright for 14 years + 14 years renewable
8. Growth of American magazines is slow in 19C:
• Low literacy
• Expensive to mail
Civil War
• Illustrations and photos
• In-depth coverage
• Mathew Brady
9. 19th Century Books
Popularization of content
•Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold 300,000 copies
•Dime novels
•Horatio Alger books
•Pulp Fiction in early 20th century
10. 19th
Century Magazines
Specialized genres: women’s magazines
Postal Act of 1879: magazines paid lower third class
postage, but treated as first class
Muckrakers: sift through unpleasant aspects of public
life, crusaded for various causes
11. 20th Century Magazine Genres
Newsmagazines: summarize and interpret
Photojournalism magazines
Women's magazines
•Traditional joined by targeted magazines
Hobbies
12. Magazine Economics
Income from:
•Subscriptions
•Newsstand sales
•Advertising
Magazine industry consolidation & market segmentation
• niche market
• mass market still successful
Distribution
•Retailers often take what wholesaler sends
13. Legal Issues:
Copying can be a crime
Copyright protects author, but conglomerates likely
beneficiaries of extensions.
Fair Use
•If you buy it, you can make a copy of it so that you
may use it
