Popular Culture: Supracultural Communication

Abstract

The basic questions which stem from theoretical inquiry into popular culture can be summed up as follows: whose culture is this and in what way should it be approached. The first question connotes human groups within and for which forms of popular culture are produced and by which pop-culture is consumed. The answer to the other question meanwhile concerns the disciplines which aspire toward the study of popular culture and the constitution of theoretical positions and methods for such an undertaking. In this paper I will consider the emergence and articulation of anthropological interest in popular culture, especially with regard to considerations of popular culture from the perspective of culture studies. As the basic area of the anthropological study of popular culture I will postulate the cultural communication which is realized through the forms of the latter.