Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives / Edition 1

Paperback (Print)
Rent
Rent from BN.com
$12.14
(Save 65%)
Eligible for FREE SHIPPING details
Usually ships within 24 hours - Same Day delivery in Manhattan details
Est. Return Date: 07/24/2013
FREE return shipping at the end of rental period How Textbook Rentals Work
Buy New
Buy New from BN.com
$23.82
(Save 31%)
Used and New from Other Sellers
Used and New from Other Sellers
from $1.99
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
(Save 94%)
Other sellers (Paperback)
  • All (9) from $1.99   
  • New (1) from $9.50   
  • Used (8) from $1.99   

More About This Textbook

Overview

What is pop culture? Why do we so often hate to love it and love to hate it? What makes us embrace parts of it and not others? While critics in every era have decried the media and popular culture as posing serious dangers to all facets of society, very few have tried to understand the meanings and social structures that they have created in our everyday lives. Marcel Danesi explores our human desire for meaning and the need to symbolize it in music, language, art, and other creative forms. Showing how culture "by the people, for the people" validates our common experiences, he offers a variety of perspectives to help us understand the products of popular culture, including music, movies, books, magazines, television shows, websites, advertisements, fads, celebrities, and more. As long as popular media and other cultural arenas continue to play a central role in contemporary society, so too will the conditions that sustain pop culture—even as the designation of what is popular will continually change. Intriguing and entertaining, Popular Culture taps into the fun of pop culture without making us feel guilty for enjoying it.
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

Arthur Asa Berger
Marcel Danesi brings his background in semiotics and the study of youth culture to this perceptive analysis of popular culture. Highly detailed and engagingly written, his book is comprehensive, theoretically sophisticated, accessible to all students, and full of remarkable insights into various aspects of popular culture. An important contribution to the subject and a must-read for everyone interested in popular culture, media, and communication.
Paul Cobley
Marcel Danesi is a giant in the field. Since Roland Barthes, nobody has promoted the semiotics of popular culture so vigorously. In this new book, he provides an overview on 'pop' that encompasses the major media while analyzing the reasons for popular culture's power and pervasiveness. Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives will offer an invaluable entrée into the awareness of pop's vicissitudes for the student and the general reader alike.
Frank Nuessel
Marcel Danesi's remarkable synthetic ability and his keen analytic insight are everywhere apparent in his outstanding new book Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives. This informative, entertaining, perceptive, and articulate treatise on popular culture provides a penetrating investigation of the print and non-print manifestations of our ubiquitous "pop culture." By exploring its origins and examining its ever-evolving manifestations, Professor Danesi presents the reader with an absorbing compendium of popular culture including definitions, theory, and practice. This book explains popular culture's diverse forms and formulas in clear and precise language. Written by an internationally acclaimed expert in the field, this text will provide the reader with a lucid interpretive overview of the entire domain.
Prisca Augustyn
In this new edition, Marcel Danesi explores Pop Culture through its stages in history in his characteristic, compelling style that connects with readers of all backgrounds. He illustrates important concepts with brilliant examples,introduces important theoretical concepts with engaging descriptions of particular events in the history of pop culture without unnecessary jargon or ideological bias. As readers will enjoy Danesi’s expansive knowledge in music, the media, and other aspects of pop culture they will also receive an expert initiation into semiotics and critical thinking about the culture they live in.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780742555471
  • Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
  • Publication date: 8/24/2007
  • Series: R&L Series in Mass Communication Series
  • Edition description: Older Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 326
  • Sales rank: 1,271,257
  • Product dimensions: 6.05 (w) x 9.08 (h) x 0.79 (d)

Meet the Author

Marcel Danesi is professor of anthropology, semiotics, and communication theory at the University of Toronto. His books include My Son Is an Alien: A Cultural Portrait of Today's Youth and Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence, and he is the editor-in-chief of Semiotica.
Read More Show Less

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 1 What Is Pop Culture? Chapter 3 2 Explaining Pop Culture Chapter 4 3 Print Chapter 5 4 Radio Chapter 6 5 Pop Music Chapter 7 6 Cinema and Video Chapter 8 7 Television Chapter 9 8 Advertising, Branding, Fads, and Pop Culture Chapter 10 9 Pop Language Chapter 11 10 Forever Pop Chapter 12 Glossary Chapter 13 References Chapter 14 Further Reading Chapter 15 Online Resources
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)