Dominic Strinati (1995) identifies five main features of current popular culture that reflect postmodern influences. These are:

  1. A breakdown of the distinction between culture and society. For example, media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality and how we define ourselves.
  2. An emphasis on style at the expense of substance and content. For example, the importance of packaging, designer labels and advertising, rather than quality of content.
  3. A breakdown of the distinction between high culture and popular culture. For example, prints of Monet paintings on umbrellas; opera and football; Campbell’s soup cans as art.
  4. Confusion over time and space. For example, ‘visits’ to soap operas by famous ‘real’ people; lifts and pipes on the outsides of buildings rather than the insides; sporting events seen all over the world at once.
  5. The decline of ‘meta-narratives’ such as religion, science and political theories. For example, phone-ins where everyone’s view is as good as the expert’s; mixtures of genres and styles in films, buildings etc.

Discuss in a small group suggestions for at least two or three further examples for each of Strinati’s categories.