 Introduction: Popular Culture and Social Change
 The preference accorded football-players in their college work, undue absorption in the game through long training-seasons, the prevalent spirit of winning at any cost, and the open hiring of star players awoke a resentment which echoed throughout the country.
The Nation was foremost in these early onslaughts: it saw all the worst elements of American character reflected in the game. "The spirit of the American youth, as of the American man, is to win, to 'get there,' by fair means or foul," it declared caustically, "and the lack of moral scruple which pervades the business world meets with temptations equally irresistible in the miniature contests of the football field."
Although far more sympathetic, the special sports writer of Harper's Weekly was fully as outspoken against the rising tide of professionalism. It was prevalent among the eastern colleges, but even worse in other parts of the country.
Because popular culture charts social change exactly and swiftly, it is commonly held responsible for the changes it reflects, and denounced as the harbinger of social disIocation. in the early years of the century, jazz and the movies were held responsible for juvenile deIinquency, as television continues to be today.
Cultural conservationists blame the spread of popular culture for their discomfort, believing that if only it could be kept under proper control, then the stability of the old ways of life might return. But this is to punish the messenger for the news he delivers. The media of popular culture are not themselves the origin of social change, although they encourage its novelties by making them appear desirable.
In one important respect popular culture is itself conservative, since, to be popular, it must speak a language that is already common to its consumers. To sell the people what they want to sell, the producers of popular culture must say what they think people most want to hear. In this sense popular culture is a form of dialog which a society has with itself.
The debates over censorship reflected a widespread belief that popular culture was an instrument of informal education and influence, and that as a result care needed to be taken over its content. Non-capitalist countries supervised their information and entertainrnent media at least as closely as they supervised their state education systems. In the United States, by contrast, the industries of leisure accepted "escapism" as a definition of their activities, since it has provided them with an easy means of avoiding responsibility for what they represent.
Entertainment, industry and politics
Actually, in a complex society no individual can participate in a large portion of existing activities and pursue those interests and values which for him will mean a creative, purposeful, and useful life. It is important that young people learn rather early to participate selectively in activities and interest groups that will help them achieve the values and purposes which for them are most meaningful. It is important, also, that they learn that there are many things in life that must be omitted in the interest of conserving time and energy and of escaping conflict. In a complex society no individual can find all groups compatible either in ideals, purposes, or goals. One must begin early to understand the things that must be left out in life, as well as the things that are to be retained.
Personality integration can be achieved in a complex society only as the person establishes goals in his own mind, selects activities, and limits social participation in the light of these goals. Many of the struggles of young people are undoubtedly caused by their attempts to participate too widely, with resulting conflict, maladjustment, and loss of goals. Some of this disorganizing experience is necessary for those who have too narrow backgrounds, but even for these a reorientation about new goals eventually is essential.
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The hula-hoop craze of the mid-1950's.
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Throughout the 20th century the industries of leisure have expanded to constitute an ever greater part of the economies of industrialized nations. From the Korean factory worker producing televisian sets to the part-time saleswoman in Stockholm who sells them, ever-increasing nurnbers of people are employed in the production and servicing of leisure activities.
All these activities are couched in the idioms of advertising and entertainment: theyall respond to real needs, but as they do so, they define what constitute the legitimate needs of the people of their society.
It is important that youth be taught sufficient breadth of activities and interests so that they will have an appreciation of work as well as leisure, of isolation and meditation as well as constant group activity, of rest as well as feverish activity, of the greatness of nature as well as the brilliance of city lights. They must learn to get along alone as well as in the groups, to be happy in individual achievement as well as in cooperative group activities. Temperamental differences affect individual interests, but the development of a well-rounded, full life involves something of each of them.
Broadcasting has been one of the most predictably profitable commercial enterprises of the century. Within 15 years of its appearance, television became an integral part of American culture: not simply recording or reflecting in distorted form, but its dominant medium of social expression. To watch was an act of citizenship, participation in the national culture. On a typical auturnn evening in the Iate 1970s, over 100 million people, in 60 percent of American homes, chose between the programming output of the three national television networks.
The coverage of elections by television has grown to concentrate increasingly on campaign strategies and the techniques of voter manipulation, and less on the substantive political issues at stake. One consequence has been an increasing apathy towards the political process, a lower regard for the ethics and integrity of politicians and a greater volatility in voting behavior.
The extent of media influence is reflected in the observation that when an industrially developed country is occupied or liberated to day, whenever there is a coup d'etat or a revolution, the new regime will take over the radio and television stations, the telephone and telex exchanges, and the printing presses. But the most striking way in which the media, and television in particular, have come to set the political agenda in the last quarter of the century can be seen in the extent to which the politics of personality and image have come to predominate in American and European politics.
Whether in the election in 1980 of Ronald Reagan, whom novelist Gore Vidal called "the Acting President", whose most effective skills have been in communications rather than administration, or in the increasing employment of advertising agencies by political parties of all persuasions in the West, issues of style and image have come to dominate issues of political substance. The impact of Mikhail Gorbachev's more acceptable face of communism is evidence that such notions are not limited to the West.
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Introduction
