American Pop Culture

474 Words2 Pages
Popular Culture Throughout the years, many anthropologists and other cultural scientists have studied human nature and behavior. In order to understand human behavior, they can study either Anthropological or Popular Culture. Anthropological culture is a certain groups of people’s way of life, while Popular culture is defined as contemporary lifestyle and items that are generally accepted by a group of people. These two differing sanctions of culture give very different perceptions about the people they are associated with. Anthropological culture gives more of a realistic view of the values and beliefs of a society because it has more to do with the actual doings of a people, not the items they buy or how the world sees them. Popular culture gives an indirect reading of a society’s values and beliefs because it has to do with the generally accepted items of a certain group of people. Popular and Anthropological Culture have both been used to study human history and behavior. The most accurate way to understand human history and behavior is to study anthological culture because it directly shows the values and beliefs of a group of people and is very objective. Anthropological culture shows a very accurate view of the way of life of a certain group of people. By studying the anthropological culture of a certain group of people, it shows how the people actually made decisions and handled everyday problems. This type of culture shapes the lives of all of the people that are subject to it. This is contrary to Popular culture where people choose the items that are used to judge their culture. If it were not for Anthropological culture, Popular culture would be non-existent. This is because Anthropological culture shapes a person from birth and gives them a sense of what is right and wrong, and determines if an item is acceptable to buy or use. Therefore,
Open Document