Chapter 11: Popular Culture and Social Media

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this chapter, you should be able to:

• Describe and define popular culture.

• List and explain various ways people consume popular culture.

• Explore how popular culture is created.

• Explain how popular culture influences broader cultural patterns.

Introduction

How vital is popular culture in your daily life? Perhaps you stay up with the latest music releases, binge-watch shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime, or follow influencers on YouTube and TikTok. Maybe you notice it in subtler ways, such as the logos on your clothing, the sports teams you support, or the memes you share with friends. From Disney characters to Marvel superheroes, from World of Warcraft guilds to Peppa Pig lunchboxes, popular culture surrounds us.

While some people are selective in how they engage with it, almost everyone is affected by its reach. Even those who try to resist still encounter its effects in their social interactions, consumer choices, and cultural references. Whether we embrace it or roll our eyes at it, popular culture shapes our perceptions of ourselves and others, and influences how we communicate across cultural boundaries. This chapter will examine the various forms of popular culture, including its creation and consumption, its influence on culture, and the strategies people employ to challenge or resist it.

Why Pop Culture and Social Media?

Why include a chapter on popular culture in an intercultural communication book? Popular culture is not just entertainment; it is deeply tied to education, mass communication, production, and access to knowledge (Campbell, n.d.). From an intercultural perspective, popular culture is often our first exposure to cultures beyond our own. As Martin and Nakayama (2011) explain, “popular culture is a lens for viewing other cultural groups” (p. 202). Through it, people learn about others, affirm their own identities, and sometimes reinforce stereotypes. In short, popular culture plays a decisive role in shaping how we see ourselves and how we understand others.

For our purposes, popular culture can be understood as a socialization agent. Its messages and images, circulating through television, radio, film, social media, video games, podcasts, and streaming platforms, influence how we perceive the world and interact with others. Because of this influence, some governments ban or restrict certain types of programming, while others promote specific cultural agendas.

Example

Many people learn about cultures they have never visited through movies, television, news, and social media. If your only exposure to a culture comes from crime shows, reality TV, or viral videos, your understanding will likely be incomplete or distorted. The media does not simply reflect culture. It filters, simplifies, and often exaggerates conflict.

Convergence

The introduction of new technologies marks the beginning of each new era. But what happens to the “old” ones? When the radio was invented, many predicted the end of newspapers. When television arrived, people predicted the end of both broadcast and film. Yet these earlier forms didn’t disappear; they adapted. Today, people still read newspapers, listen to the radio, and watch TV, but often through a single device: the smartphone. This merging of functions is known as convergence, the process by which distinct technologies come to share content, tasks, and resources. Your smartphone is the best example. It takes photos, acts as an alarm clock or flashlight, streams music and video, provides news updates, sends messages, and even gives you access to textbooks like this one. Convergence has blurred the lines between different media, reshaping how we consume and interact with popular culture.

Cultural Convergence

Henry Jenkins (2006) describes convergence as more than just a technological shift. It is also a cultural process in which stories, ideas, and meanings flow across multiple platforms, and audiences participate in shaping them. One aspect of cultural convergence is the movement of content across platforms. A story might begin as a novel and then appear as a television series or film (Dexter or To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before). Other examples include comics, manga, and webtoons that become international hits as movies or streaming series (such as Love Alarm or Black Panther). Sometimes the process goes in reverse, an amusement park ride becomes a film franchise (Pirates of the Caribbean). Perhaps the most famous case is Harry Potter, which exists simultaneously as books, films, toys, theme parks, video games, and even candy bars.

The second aspect is participatory or fan culture. Consumers are no longer passive audiences; they annotate, comment on, remix, and respond to popular culture in ways that blur the line between producer and consumer. Fan communities create memes, fan fiction, edits, and online discussions that circulate globally, influencing how stories are told and remembered. This participatory element demonstrates that cultural convergence is not just about media companies expanding their content, but also about audiences reshaping and blending cultural meaning across borders.

Global Convergence

Global convergence refers to the process by which geographically distant cultures influence one another, even when separated by national borders. A clear example is the way Nigeria’s Nollywood cinema has drawn inspiration from India’s Bollywood, which itself was shaped by Hollywood. Media and entertainment constantly circulate: classic Tom and Jerry cartoons and The Oprah Winfrey Show have long been broadcast across Arab satellite networks; American horror films like The Ring and The Grudge are remakes of Japanese originals; and the global hit American Idol was itself adapted from a British program.

The positive side of global convergence is increased access to diverse cultural influences worldwide. People across the globe can engage with stories, music, and art they might never have encountered otherwise. However, this process can also pose risks, particularly through cultural imperialism, a term Herbert Schiller (1969) used to describe the ways less powerful nations can be pressured, persuaded, or incentivized to adopt the values and institutions of more dominant nations. In these cases, local cultural traditions may be overshadowed by the spread of globalized media and pop culture.

Cultural Homogenization

When culture becomes a commercial commodity, concerns about cultural homogenization and the erosion of local diversity grow stronger. Global audiences may begin to dress, eat, consume, and even communicate in ways that mimic dominant cultural models, thereby putting localized traditions at risk. As Martin and Nakayama (2011) observe, “There is no easy way to measure the impact of popular culture, but we need to be sensitive to its influences on intercultural communication because, for so many of us, the world exists through popular culture” (p. 202).

Cultural homogenization refers to the process by which distinct cultural practices and expressions become more similar over time, often due to the global spread of media, brands, and economic systems. When the same movies, music, clothing styles, social media platforms, and lifestyles circulate worldwide, they can create shared reference points. At the same time, they can reduce the visibility and perceived value of local traditions, languages, and ways of life.

This process is not always intentional. Many people engage with global popular culture because it is accessible, entertaining, and socially rewarding. However, when certain cultural narratives dominate global media, they can shape expectations about what is considered modern, successful, or normal. These expectations often reflect the values of economically powerful nations rather than the full range of global cultural experiences.

Importantly, cultural homogenization is not absolute. Local communities frequently adapt global influences in ways that reflect their own histories, values, and needs. This blending of global and local elements shows that popular culture is not simply imposed but negotiated. Still, recognizing the forces that push cultures toward sameness helps intercultural communicators remain attentive to issues of power, representation, and cultural equity.

Exercise

Title: Global Poverty, Food Insecurity, and Media Narratives

Popular media often present poverty and hunger through brief, emotional images that lack cultural context. While these portrayals can raise awareness, they can also reinforce stereotypes or oversimplify complex global issues.

Organizations such as the United Nations, the World Food Programme, and the Food and Agriculture Organization provide public platforms that allow users to explore poverty and food insecurity through country specific data, interactive maps, and narrative explanations. These resources highlight how hunger and poverty are shaped by factors such as climate, conflict, policy decisions, and access to education rather than by culture alone.

Exploring these resources encourages ethical media consumption and helps students move beyond single-story narratives when thinking about global inequality.

Optional scavenger hunt activity:

Visit:
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development: The 17 Goals
World Food Programme
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Choose one country you know little about. Identify one challenge related to poverty or food insecurity and one factor contributing to it. Then compare how this issue is represented on social media or in U.S. news. Reflect on what is missing or oversimplified in popular portrayals.

Cultural Attributes

One way to understand culture is to examine the attributes that shape how groups express themselves. These attributes can often be sorted into three broad categories: folk culture, popular culture, and high culture.

Historically, humans lived in small groups practicing folk culture. Folk culture reflects traditions passed down over generations, often rooted in agricultural lifestyles, community rituals, and local storytelling. It is typically tied to a specific place and relies on close-knit social bonds. The Industrial Age transformed human society and ushered in the rise of popular culture. Unlike folk culture, popular culture spreads widely and rapidly, often fueled by technology and globalization. Pop culture represents shared practices adopted by large numbers of people across regions and even across the globe. Music, film, fashion, and social media trends are all examples of cultural practices that cross borders and create shared experiences among diverse groups.

At the same time, societies have long maintained forms of high culture. High culture refers to artistic and intellectual expressions often associated with aristocracy or elite social classes, such as classical music, opera, fine art, and literature. High culture is typically considered timeless and prestigious, although the definition of “high” culture varies across societies. Together, folk, popular, and high culture illustrate the many ways people create meaning, pass on traditions, and adapt to changing times. Recognizing these distinctions helps us see how culture influences not only our everyday choices but also our intercultural interactions.

Popular Culture

Popular culture, often shortened to pop culture, refers to cultural practices and products that are mainstream, widely accessible, and produced for mass consumption. Its purpose is not only entertainment but also social bonding; it creates shared experiences that unify large groups. Pop culture is often described as commercially thriving, self-sustaining, and self-perpetuating (Stott, 2004). Think of TikTok dance challenges, Marvel movies, or viral memes. Pop culture constantly seeks what’s “new,” but that “new” is often recycled from past generations, other cultures, or folk traditions. For example, retro fashion trends reappear every few decades, often with a modern twist.

One powerful feature of pop culture is the community it creates, where spectators and participants intersect. Fans form groups, sometimes in person and often online, that serve as spaces for belonging. Platforms like Discord host entire communities devoted to gaming, anime, or music, where cultural participation becomes an integral part of one’s identity. In this sense, pop culture acts as cultural “glue.” The roots of American pop culture can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution, when mass production and urban growth facilitated the rapid dissemination of cultural products (McAdams, 2014). After World War II, the rise of radio, television, and mass media amplified this effect, shaping much of what we recognize today as pop culture.

High Culture

High culture is typically associated with the arts, traditions, and tastes of the elite. It is not intended for mass consumption and often requires specialized knowledge or training to be fully appreciated. Opera, ballet, classical music, polo, and fine art are common examples in the U.S. Participation in high culture can be restricted by access, both educational and financial. For instance, appreciating opera may require musical literacy, while attending polo matches may involve costly membership fees. High culture often carries prestige and is used to signal status, making it less accessible to the broader public.

Folk Culture

Folk culture encompasses the localized traditions, rituals, and practices that preserve a group’s identity. Unlike pop or high culture, folk culture is deeply tied to place and heritage. Even when folk traditions are borrowed or commercialized elsewhere, they often retain the strong connotations of their origins. Examples of U.S. folk culture include quilt-making, powwows, Shaker furniture, Cajun and Creole cuisine, hula, and even state fair foods like corn dogs. These practices are rooted in history, passed down through generations, and often serve as symbols of cultural pride and a sense of belonging.

When Folk Culture Becomes Pop Culture

Folk culture often informs pop culture and sometimes even high culture. However, once folk cultural icons are internationalized or commercialized to the point where they lose their original sense of place and meaning, they are no longer considered folk culture. Consider the Seattle Seahawks football team emblem as a prime example. The team’s original 1975 logo was based on a photograph of a Kwakwaka’wakw tribal mask found in an art book (WeAreFanatics.com, 2019). Most Seahawks fans instantly recognize the emblem as the team’s official NFL logo. Still, very few know that “sea hawk” is a nickname for an osprey or that the original mask had deep religious significance in Kwakwaka’wakw tradition (Audubon.org, 2019).

This example illustrates how folk culture can be adapted into popular culture, often stripped of its cultural context and meaning in the process.

Cultural Attribute Diffusion

Although similar to global convergence, cultural diffusion refers to the spread and adaptation of artistic traditions and ideas across geographical and social boundaries. Global convergence tends to emphasize the importance of cultural products, while cultural diffusion highlights how these products are creatively adapted in new contexts. For instance, McDonald’s has customized its menu across regions, such as the McAloo Tikki in India and the Teriyaki Burger in Japan, to reflect local tastes. Music is another vivid example: Jamaican Dancehall has shaped the sound of artists like Drake, Rihanna, and Brazilian singer Lai Di Dai, showing how cultural forms evolve and hybridize when they travel.

On a personal level, diffusion often shows up in fashion, entertainment, or lifestyle choices. Do you wear Vans because you genuinely like them—or because they’re popular within your peer group? When it comes to entertainment, pop culture trends can heavily influence viewing habits. One student described sitting through the 2019 film Aquaman despite not enjoying it, explaining that “we watched the entire thing even though it was cheesy and not very well made. Why? Probably because we had watched so many superhero movies over the years that had taken over the movie scene” (Hein, 2019). According to CNBC, over 70% of Aquaman’s $1 billion revenue came from international sales (Franck, 2019).

Kathryn Sorrells (2013) suggests that to become informed consumers of popular culture, we need to:

1. Recognize the role media plays in normalizing ideas and spreading stereotypes.

2. Acknowledge our choices in what we consume.

3. Understand that we do not have to accept what the mass media promotes.

Kalle Lasn (2000) introduces the concept of culture jamming, a form of public activism that resists mainstream media influence by parodying or subverting its messages, encouraging audiences to become interpreters rather than passive consumers.

The Power of Pop Culture

The United States is both a major consumer and creator of popular culture. Economic prosperity in the early 20th century gave rise to what Adorno and Horkheimer (1944/1993) termed the cultural industries, the creation, production, and distribution of cultural goods, such as music, television, and film, typically tied to intellectual property rights. Early U.S. media exports were often tied to corporate sponsorship. Soap companies such as Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive funded serialized radio dramas to sell their products, giving rise to the term “soap opera.”

U.S. dominance in media exports has been profound. In 1987, American films accounted for 56% of the European film market; less than a decade later, this figure rose to 90% (Dager, n.d.). Even today, U.S. films often hold between 60–75% of the Western European market share (Hopewell, 2013). Such disparities raise concerns not only about the economic health of domestic film industries abroad but also about the cultural impact of these one-sided flows (Levin Institute, 2017).

Other countries have since leveraged popular culture to drive economic growth. For example, South Korea reimagined its national export strategy in the 1990s after realizing that the global box office success of Jurassic Park equaled the export value of 1.5 million Hyundai cars (Lee, 2022). Today, South Korea’s cultural exports, including K-dramas and K-pop, have become international phenomena. BTS, arguably the world’s most famous K-pop group, even visited the White House in 2022 to address anti-Asian hate crimes during Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

The Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave)

The Hallyu Wave, also known as the Korean Wave, has become one of the most notable examples of global cultural influence. What began in the 1990s with Korean television dramas has expanded into music (K-pop), film, beauty products, food, and even esports. International audiences now consume Korean cultural products at unprecedented rates, making South Korea a leader in exporting not only entertainment but also cultural identity. The Hallyu Wave is often described as an example of soft power, a nation’s ability to shape preferences and exert influence through attraction rather than coercion (Nye, 2004). South Korea’s global visibility, as demonstrated by Parasite’s Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020 and the worldwide popularity of Squid Game, shows how media can enhance a country’s international standing. Growing familiarity with a nation’s culture can translate into stronger commercial ties and more favorable diplomatic relations (Lee, 2022).

Cultural Values and Pop Culture

A growing body of research has emerged on the relationship between social media, popular culture, and intercultural communication. While we cannot cover it all in this chapter, a few highlights are worth noting.

Daniel and Musgrave (2017) studied what they term ‘synthetic experiences,‘ indirect experiences of other cultures through films, novels, television, or video games. Their work shows that these mediated experiences can:

• Change beliefs about other groups,

• Reinforce existing stereotypes, or

• Even displacing knowledge gained through more traditional forms of education.

For example, they noted how Tom Clancy novels influenced U.S. public perception of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and shaped post-9/11 attitudes toward terrorism. Similarly, television shows, streaming series, and video games today can shape how audiences perceive other cultures, sometimes promoting empathy and at different times oversimplifying or stereotyping them.

Popular culture, then, is not just “entertainment.” It is also a powerful socialization tool that both reflects and influences cultural values, identities, and intercultural understanding.

Pop Culture, Social Media, and Learning

Pop culture and social media also play a significant role in education and language acquisition. Abdullah (2019) found a strong correlation between students’ willingness to learn English and their exposure to pop culture and social media. Because the correlation was so high, Abdullah encouraged teachers to incorporate pop culture into their curriculum whenever possible, noting that it can be a motivating and effective tool for language learning.

From an intercultural perspective, Chen (2012) argues that pop culture and social media “not only influence the form and content of information/messages, but they also affect how people understand each other in the process of human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups” (p. 3). His work examines the impact of e-communication on cultural identity, intercultural relationships, adaptation, and intercultural conflict, suggesting that media is inseparable from how we construct and negotiate meaning across cultural boundaries.

Consuming and Resisting Pop Culture

People relate to pop culture in a complex and multifaceted way. Sometimes we embrace it; other times, we resist it, often for reasons tied to identity, values, or social group membership. Participation in pop culture can affirm a sense of belonging, while resistance can become a way to protect or reshape one’s cultural identity. For example, social media platforms illustrate generational differences in pop culture consumption. According to Statista (2019), 79% of U.S. adults aged 18–49 used Facebook regularly, compared to only 40% of those aged 65 and older. Pew Research Center (2019) found that young adults ages 18–24 spread their usage across multiple platforms, with YouTube (94%), Snapchat (78%), Instagram (71%), and Twitter (45%) among the most popular, with 71% of this age group visiting these sites multiple times a day.

Importantly, something does not need to be consumed by a majority to be considered “popular.” With roughly a quarter of the world’s population on Facebook, the platform—now branded as Meta—functions as one of the most powerful purveyors of popular culture, even as many individuals actively resist it.

Media Representation and Cultural Understanding

Popular culture does more than entertain. It teaches audiences how to recognize, interpret, and evaluate people and cultures they may never encounter directly. For many individuals, especially those with limited opportunities for travel or sustained intercultural contact, media portrayals become substitutes for lived experience. These portrayals shape expectations, emotions, and assumptions long before any direct interaction occurs.

Scholars refer to this process as mediated cultural learning, in which films, television shows, social media, news coverage, and digital content serve as informal educators about other cultures. While mediated learning can increase awareness and curiosity, it also carries risks. Media portrayals often simplify complex cultures into easily recognizable narratives, relying on familiar tropes, stereotypes, or dramatic contrasts to appeal to mass audiences.

For example, certain regions of the world are repeatedly depicted through narrow frames. Latin America is often portrayed through stories of crime, corruption, or poverty. The Middle East is frequently represented through images of conflict or extremism. Asian cultures may be framed through hyper-competence, submissiveness, or exoticism. Even when portrayals are not overtly negative, they can still be reductive, presenting a single story as representative of an entire group.

Because popular culture relies on repetition, these images become cognitively accessible. Over time, they can feel “natural” or “obvious,” even when they are inaccurate. This is especially powerful when audiences lack alternative narratives or direct experiences to challenge what they see. Importantly, media portrayals do not affect all audiences equally. Individuals who belong to the portrayed group may experience frustration, misrecognition, or internal conflict when media images do not reflect their lived realities. Meanwhile, outsiders may mistake representation for reality, assuming they now “understand” a culture based on limited exposure.

Understanding this process is essential for intercultural communication competence. Competent communicators learn to ask not only what media shows, but who created the message, for whom, and for what purpose. Popular culture and social media shape how people form expectations about others before any direct interaction. These mediated perceptions shape identity, reinforce stereotypes, and can either create or reduce barriers to intercultural communication.

Conclusion

Popular culture is constantly evolving, shaped by time, place, and societal influences. It reflects how institutions and communities merge, diverge, and adapt to appeal to a wide range of people within a culture. For example, according to Internet Live Stats (2018), 3.5 billion Google searches are conducted daily, a striking reminder of how deeply popular culture influences our daily lives. Whether we embrace it or resist it, popular culture serves critical cultural functions. It is intertwined with both personal and national identities and serves as a powerful economic force that shapes how we consume information and perceive and understand other cultural groups.

References

• Adorno, T., & Horkheimer, M. (1993). Dialectic of Enlightenment (J. Cumming, Trans.). Continuum. (Original work published 1944)
• Dager, A. (n.d.). Hollywood’s dominance in Europe. Retrieved from [source]
• Franck, T. (2019, January 8). ‘Aquaman’ nears billion-dollar benchmark thanks to international sales. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/08/aquaman-nears-billion-dollar-bench-mark-thanks-to-international-sales.html
• Hein, [Student Reflection]. (2019). Personal communication cited in course material.
• Hopewell, J. (2013). European film market share statistics. Variety. Retrieved from [source]
• Lasn, K. (2000). Culture jam: How to reverse America’s suicidal consumer binge—and why we must. HarperCollins.
• Lee, J. (2022). Korea’s cultural export strategy: From cars to K-pop. Korean Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(3), 15–34.
• Levin Institute. (2017). Globalization: The cultural impact. State University of New York. Retrieved from http://www.globalization101.org
• Sorrells, K. (2013). Intercultural communication: Globalization and social justice (2nd ed.). SAGE.
• Daniel, E. L., & Musgrave, P. (2017). Synthetic experiences: How popular culture matters for images of international relations. International Studies Quarterly, 61(3), 503–516. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqx021
• Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. PublicAffairs.
• Abdullah, A. (2019). The correlation between students’ willingness to learn English and exposure to pop culture and social media. Journal of Language and Education Research, 5(2), 45–57.
• Chen, G. M. (2012). The impact of new media on intercultural communication in global context. China Media Research, 8(2), 1–10.
• Pew Research Center. (2019, February). Social media use in 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org
• Statista. (2019, February). Percentage of U.S. adults who use Facebook as of February 2019, by age group. https://www.statista.com