Cultural Theory and Popular Culture

Photo 2.1 A day trip to Blackpool in the early 1950s. There are ...no masses;
there are only ways of seeing [other] people as masses (Raymond
Williams, 1963: 289).
Further reading
Further reading 35
Storey, John (ed.), Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, 4th edition, Harlow:
Pearson Education, 2009. This is the companion volume to this book. It contains
examples of most of the work discussed here. This book and the companion Reader
are supported by an interactive website (www.pearsoned.co.uk/storey). The website
has links to other useful sites and electronic resources.
Baldick, Chris, The Social Mission of English 1848–1932, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
Contains interesting and informed chapters on Arnold and Leavisism.
Bilan, R.P., The Literary Criticism of F.R. Leavis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1979. Although mostly on Leavis as a literary critic, it contains some useful material
on his attitude to high and popular culture.
Bramson, Leon, The Political Context of Sociology, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1961. Contains an illuminating chapter on the mass culture debate in America.
Gans, Herbert J., Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste,
New York: Basic Books, 1974. The book is a late contribution to the mass culture
debate in America. It presents a compelling argument in defence of cultural pluralism.