1.) Three Properties of Culture * Symbolic – stands/means for something * Socially constructed – created by society * Embodied in form – person, objects, visual, audio, language, nonverbal gestures

2.) Four means of understanding the “popular” aspect of popular culture * Well-liked * Measured by success usually in ratings and sales * Well-known * Recognized globally * Example: Paris Hilton * Targets a general wide audience (“mass culture”) * Commercial media that is for general consumption * Directed to the common people * Belongs to the people * Invokes a individuals tradition and roots

3.) Cool hunters are people who go around looking for the next person that is considered cool and what will be the start of a next new trend. They research the underground trends of fashion-forward youth in order to appropriate them for mass consumption.
The triumphant circularity of cool hunting refers to: * No coherent philosophy of cool * Can’t manufacture cool, only observe it * Must be cool to know cool * Look for people first and cool things later

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5.) The functionalist approach argues that the explanation for popular culture is our obsession with “mass entertainment” in terms of their social uses or their function in generating solidarity among individuals within large and anonymous communities. It also emphasizes how the symbols, rituals, and practices surrounding its production and consumption can bring people together as a social adhesive by generating a shared sense of social solidarity and reinforces the collective conscience. The critical approach says that the explanation for popular culture is its’ ability to reflect and reinforce the enormous economic and cultural power of the mass media industry. It emphasizes the darker aspects of popular culture – its ubiquity and