본문 바로가기
  • Home

A Study on the Criticism of Popular Culture and Culturalism in the Discourse of Cultural Movement in the 1980s

Kim, Sungil 1

1경희대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the form and significance of criticism of cultural movement discourse on popular culture and culturalism in the 1980s. At the time, in the discourse of cultural movements, popular culture and culturalism were understood as a culture for the sake of the ruling class to be used to suppress the resistance of the oppressed class. The cultural movement discourse, which was announced as part of the publishing movement, draws our critical attention as it speaks out the epistemology of the time. The discourse of cultural movement in the 1980s carried out the criticism of the characteristics, medium, and effect of popular culture as follows. First, popular culture was criticized as commercial culture and foreign culture at that time; especially, the criticism was given to the pursuit of explicit profits and acceptance of culture by Japan and the United States. Second, it was the criticism of the media, which was symbolized as “3S” and carried out in the monolithic cultural policy of the state power. Third, the effect of popular culture on the social reality was criticized that popular culture paralyzes social consciousness and distorted Shinmyeong(cultural sense of liberation and pleasure). Lastly, in the discourse of cultural movements in the 1980s, the criticism of artistic orientation, political neutrality, and Western dependence related to culturalism was developed as follows: firstly, the criticism of the nature of art by the culturalism that advocated “art for art’s sake” was carried out. Secondly, the criticism of the appropriation of art as an apolitical field was made. And, thirdly, the criticism of cultural elitism and blind faith in Western literary arts was raised. Theoretically, discussions on the negative aspects and dysfunctions of popular culture and culturalism are relatively clear. However, the problem is that there has been no empirical prior study on the criticism of popular culture and culturalism in the cultural movement discourse of the 1980s. Therefore, this paper attempts to construct a narrative of the criticism of mainstream culture by examining and referring to the original texts of cultural discourse at that time.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.