Pop culture surrounds us. Its products are the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and the books we read; they are on our televisions, phones, and computers. We are its fickle friend, loving to hate it and hating to love it. But what, exactly, is it? Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives tackles that question by exploring our human desire for meaning and the ways that popular culture embodies meaning. In this core text, Marcel Danesi delves into the social structures that have led to the emergence and spread of pop culture, showing how it validates our common experiences and offering a variety of perspectives on its many modes of delivery into our everyday lives. The third edition features two new chapters: one on the commercial context of pop culture, and another explicitly considering digital culture. New exercises and discussion prompts serve to deepen understanding, while updated examples connect with the current generation of students.

Author Biography

Marcel Danesi is professor of anthropology, semiotics, and communication theory at the University of Toronto.