Mass culture refers to a popular culture established by the mass production industrial processes and is often marketed to a mass public of customers for profits (Lowenthal, 2014). The primary determinant of mass culture is the profits generated from the production and marketing strategies in a potential mass market. Repetitive, formulaic, and standardized mass culture products are usually traded to a passive audience who have been exposed to mass media manipulation. Under the mass cultural theory, the commodity ought to be standardized and bland to a particular formula. The key argument presented by the theory includes the disruptive effects of urbanization and industrialization. The theory argues that the development of large-scale and automated industrial production and the increase in population in various cities destabilizes and erodes societal values that initially held individuals together. The advancements in scientific knowledge, the development of atomized, monotonous, and alienated industrial work, the growth of big anomic cities typified by anonymous crowds, and the significant absence of morality due to mass society and culture brought about various radical changes in the society, for instance, religion decline and society secularization, and disunity amid members of a community.
The theory propounds that urbanization and industrialization lead to atomization (Paddison, 2004). The mass society is made up of individuals who identify or correlate with each other like atoms in a chemical or physical compound. The Mass society is composed of atomized individuals who lack morally or meaningful, coherent relations with each other. Individuals in a mass society lack a substantial conception regarding the morally acceptable life behaviors and have few institutions or communities that establish the required moral values. People often find themselves in an atomized situation due to urbanization and industrialization procedures that subsequently lead to the lack of mediating social institutions. These institutions, for instance, churches, family, and villages initially provided a sense of moral certainty, social conduct, and psychological identity among people in a society. Contrarily, their contemporary counterparts, for instance, science and cities don't function similarly; they are incapable of fostering identity, delineating the conception of morality and behavior. The theory suggests that individuals in a mass society are usually atomized both morally and socially, and this subsequently fosters aspects such as formal and contractual contacts amid individuals and the deprivation of an in-depth sense of moral integrity. The lack of appropriate moral order frameworks leads to the emergence of ineffectual and spurious order in the society which subsequently promotes fake and surrogate moralities amid people; this further aggravates other than solving a mass society's moral crisis.
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Mass culture is perceived as one of the primary sources of ineffectual and surrogate morality. The theory argues that through the deprivation of mediatory institutions, people are often vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by integral establishments such as popular culture and mass media and no moral decree can prevent the occurrence of these exploitations (Lowenthal, 2011). Communal verities and religious certainties lead to the unethical immediacy of secular anomie and logical individualism associated with the advancements in mass culture and mass consumption; these are the mass society’s moral placebos. Some theorists argue that education and democracy are harmful advancements since they tend to contribute to the mass society’s pathological condition. Fears regarding Americanization (democratization) during the 19th century were associated with the impacts of education and democracy in destroying the traditional hierarchies of taste and class which would consequently allow the mass to ascertain political decisions and undermine cultural standards (Brantlinger, 2016). From this viewpoint, democracy establishes that every person is entitled to political citizenship and that everyone’s cultural preferences are worthy and valuable and they ought to be fulfilled and respected. Additionally, education, as an integral part of the democratization process, underscores the people’s ability to engage in cultural activities fully, for instance, reading, writing, and discriminating. Education and democracy, therefore, enhances the popular determination of culture by the mass society.
Other theorists argue that since masses lack discrimination and taste, culture is thus trivialized and debased. Additionally, if the masses’ tastes ought to be satisfied, then every aspect should be declined to the lowest common denominator of the mass. Individuals have to develop their culture, a culture that exhibits their judgment and status as masses. Education and democracy, therefore, break down cultural differences amid the mass culture and art and folk. The theory further argues that the delineated procedures invest their authority in the society’s central organizations, commercial industries, mass media, and the state (Bratlinger. 2016). People who control the establishments of authority indulge to the mass’ tastes with the aim of controlling them. The theory delineates the potential of cities to pervasively and systematically employ mass media to exploit, manipulate, persuade, and cajole the people in society.
One primary strength of the theory is that it promotes people’s roles in society as consumers. Secondly, the theory delineates the source of popular culture. The theory argues that the mass culture among individuals arises from the masses. These set of values emerge from a common exposure to aspects such as media and cultural activities. He further compares this scenario to the emergence of popular art before the twentieth century. The theory also has various weaknesses. First, the theory of mass culture is elitist. The theory supports the notion that an elite should govern a system or society. The theorists of mass culture attempt to romanticize the past, an era when elite and folk cultures fundamentally the society’s moral and social order (Lowenthal, 2011). Secondly, according to Lowenthal (2011), mass cultural theory ignores the significance of diversity in popular culture. Popular culture is usually diverse as it has diverse uses and it can be interpreted differently by various groups. Lastly, the theory portrays mass culture audiences or consumers as foolish, and passive. The theory further delineates that these consumers lack taste. Some of the criticisms of the theory are based on the theory’s use of communicative rationality and standardization.
In conclusion, Mass cultural theory propounds that urbanization and industrialization lead to atomization. The theory argues that the development of large-scale and automated industrial production and the increase in population in various cities destabilizes and erodes societal values that initially held individuals together. The theory further emphasizes the role of mass media in influencing the popular culture of a society. The theory has various strengths and weaknesses. The theory promotes people’s roles in society as consumers, and it delineates the source of popular culture in a society. The theory is elitist, and it ignores the significance of diversity in popular culture.
References
Brantlinger P., (2016). Bread and Circuses: Theories of Mass Culture as Social Decay . Cornell University Press.
Paddison, M. (2004). Adorno, modernism and mass culture . London: Kahn & Averill.
Lowenthal L., (2011). Literature and Mass Culture . Transaction Publishers.
