GUSN-245643
xxvii, 320 p. : ill. ; 25 cm., "Americans have a long history of public arguments about taste, the uses of leisure, and what is culturally appropriate in a democracy that has a strong work ethic. Michael Kammen surveys these debates as well as our changing taste preferences, especially in the past century, and the shifting perceptions that have accompanied them." "Focusing on our own time, Kammen discusses the use of the fluid nature of cultural taste to enlarge audiences and increase revenues, and reveals how the public role of intellectuals and cultural critics has declined as the power of corporate sponsors and promoters has risen. As a result of this diminution of cultural authority, he says, definitive pronouncements have been replaced by divergent points of view, and there is, as well, a tendency to blur fact and fiction, reality and illusion."--BOOK JACKET.
Popular culture History 20th century.
Social change History 20th century.
Aesthetics Social aspects History 20th century.
Consumption (Economics) Social aspects History 20th century.
Populaire cultuur.
Smaak (cultuur)
Sociale verandering.
Sitte
Sozialer Wandel
Massenkultur
Volkskultur
Social life and customs 20th century.
Kammen, Michael G.
Comming to terms with defining terms -- Culture democratized: distinction or degradation? -- Consumerism, Americanism, and the phasing of popular culture -- Popular culture in transition--and in its prime -- Blurring the boundaries between taste levels -- Cultural criticism and the transformation of cultural authority -- The gradual emergence of mass culture and its critics -- Mass culture in more recent times: passive and/or participatory? -- Historians and the problem of popular culture in recent times -- Meetings of the minds? Moving beyond cusutomary categories.
New York : Knopf
xxvii, 320 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
"Americans have a long history of public arguments about taste, the uses of leisure, and what is culturally appropriate in a democracy that has a strong work ethic. Michael Kammen surveys these debates as well as our changing taste preferences, especially in the past century, and the shifting perceptions that have accompanied them." "Focusing on our own time, Kammen discusses the use of the fluid nature of cultural taste to enlarge audiences and increase revenues, and reveals how the public role of intellectuals and cultural critics has declined as the power of corporate sponsors and promoters has risen. As a result of this diminution of cultural authority, he says, definitive pronouncements have been replaced by divergent points of view, and there is, as well, a tendency to blur fact and fiction, reality and illusion."--BOOK JACKET.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-303) and index.
Purchase, 2000.
0679427406
9780679427407
Stacks E169.Z82 K35 1999
United States
USA
1st ed.
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