The creation of cultural hierarchy in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is one of the most important issues confronted by cultural historians, theorists, and critics. There are many interpretations of the events that led to the solidification of hierarchical models, but generally historians and theorists, like John Storey, Michael Kammen, John Fiske, and Lawrence Levine, agree that three main social conditions allowed for the progressive development of cultural hierarchy throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century: the removal and appropriation by elites of favored cultural materials, products, and ideologies, advancements in intellectualism, and increasing industrial-capitalist socioeconomic conditions. …show more content…
This commonality, according to Lawrence Levine, was important for the construction of nation-building. Early in the century, cultural amusements like plays and museums were open to the public, reflecting and inspiring a veneer of democratic atmosphere of the new nation. Touring plays, especially those of Shakespeare, saw attendees from across the social spectrum. Open seating afforded intermingling. Pariodies, burlesques, and crowd participation provided evidence of the popularity of these attractions. Levine noted that parodies do not work and have no place culturally without having first-hand knowledge of the primary source. However, this open and common culture soon mirrored the social hierarchies present in America in the early nineteenth century. Those same organizing practices were turned onto culture, as historians, critics, and theorists started defining culture as something much different than …show more content…
Arnold’s statements, considered by Michael Kammen, John Storey, and John Fiske as one of the first Americans to analyze culture, opened the potential of cultural studies. That definition, according to Storey and Kammen, dominated the interpretation of culture in American until Raymond Williams’ three-part interpretation of culture in the 1950s and 1960s. Until that time, culture was defined as inherently stratified, a marker of elitism, not something created by “the people”, the masses, the common. Levine’s analysis of cultural amusements during the nineteenth century supports this definition. Around mid-century, “highbrow” and “lowbrow” began to delineate culture and the people ascribing to said amusements. Shakespeare, museums, and operas were transformed into highbrow culture, while burlesques, circuses, and parodies (once synonymous with the previous) were relegated to “lowbrow”