Two Concepts of Culture: High Culture vs. Popular Culture
Two Concepts of Culture
A) High Culture
High culture is typically what is meant by “culture” and what educated individuals are considered to possess. This knowledge encompasses complex and elaborate fields such as literature, art, classical music, philosophy, and science (including religion that accepts scientific and philosophical criticism, without belief in miracles, saints, or vigils, like Feuerbach’s or Marx’s).
For centuries, high culture was monopolized by the aristocracy and later the bourgeoisie, who had the literacy and leisure time to cultivate it (e.g., attending concerts, operas, museums). In the 19th century, with the expansion of schooling, high culture began to democratize. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s, when high schools and universities became more accessible to the working classes, that this democratization truly took hold.
However, the education system is selective, and significant school failure occurs at each level. Ultimately, only a minority, primarily from the middle and upper strata of society, reach the highest levels of education. For example, in recent years, around 65% of students in science and master’s programs come from families of executives and entrepreneurs. According to the PISA report, 75% of school failure is linked to social origin and parental education levels.
B) Popular Culture
For centuries, knowledge about production, agriculture, livestock, textile techniques, architecture, navigation, and so on was held by the common people. The aristocracy considered manual labor beneath them, and the bourgeoisie focused on commerce, banking, and industry, leaving manual work to the populace.
- The foundation of popular culture lies in discoveries from the Neolithic period onward. These discoveries, as significant and complex as 20th-century scientific advancements, according to Claude Lévi-Strauss, have enabled humanity to survive and thrive, particularly in the developing world.
- Great works of humanity throughout history are the result of popular culture, including Romanesque and Gothic churches, Roman temples and bridges, and even much of Barcelona’s modernist architecture (e.g., Gaudí’s work).
- Until the 19th century, production in small industrial workshops relied on popular knowledge. However, with the work of Taylor and Ford, this knowledge became scientific and shifted into the hands of engineers and the bourgeoisie.
- Socialism, anarchism, and communism are also part of the ideology or popular culture, stemming from the experience of working in factories.
- The people’s knowledge of production gave them power in negotiations with employers and fueled social struggles, leading to better pay and rights.
C) Youth Culture
While there are differences among young people from various backgrounds, some common features of youth culture include:
- Importance of fashion, music, dance, alcohol, and premarital sex
- Emphasis on love and relationships over marriage
- Prioritizing leisure over work
- Engagement with sports, video games, phones, and consumption
- Interest in travel and a generally apolitical stance, with exceptions like feminism, ecology, and pacifism
Perception and Culture
Perception is not a mere reflection of reality but rather a combination of sensory impressions (sight, smell, taste, touch) and cultural influences. For example, in beer consumption, the taste sensation might be similar for everyone, but our cultural background shapes our appreciation of it. Our initial sensory experience, as we may recall from childhood, might be unpleasant. However, those in Western cultures that value consumption may learn to appreciate and distinguish between different types of beer (e.g., light vs. dark, brand, temperature). This contrasts with individuals in Islamic cultures where alcohol consumption is condemned. This concept applies to various aspects of life, such as food preferences, music appreciation, and art appreciation, all of which are shaped by learning and education.
Consider a Swiss person visiting a rural area in Africa. They might perceive the environment as dirty due to their cultural obsession with cleanliness. While their sensory impressions might be similar to a local’s, their cultural background influences their perception. Similarly, someone from a culture that values darker aesthetics might perceive a dimly lit space as cozy, while someone from a culture that values brightness might perceive it as gloomy.
Gestalt School
The Gestalt School, founded in Germany around 1920, has influenced fields like therapy and design. It opposes theories of multiple perceptions, where each object is perceived as a collection of its parts (e.g., a furnished room perceived as individual pieces of furniture and a room). Instead, Gestalt psychology proposes that we have a unified perception that integrates all parts into a whole (the “gestalt”). This explains why we perceive a small furnished room as a single entity rather than a collection of objects. The same applies to someone wearing vertical stripes.
Our minds have inherent laws that organize the objects and impressions we perceive.
B) Laws of Figure and Ground
Every perception is organized into figure and ground. The figure is perceived as crisp, precise, and limited, while the ground is more encompassing, indefinite, and amorphous.
C) Laws of the Figure
- Law of Closure: If shown an incomplete figure for a fraction of a second, we tend to perceive it as complete.
- Law of Contrast: The perceived size of an object is influenced by the presence of nearby objects.