Rap, a popular music that emerged in the United States during the 1980s and 90s, is described as a creation of young African American culture. It belongs to a centuries old legacy of using language creatively in everyday life. The roots of the music are seen as part of the African-American oral and musical traditions that encompass the hidden…

If sexism, inherent in the fabric of the culture of human society, produced sexist language, then sexist language no doubt helps reinforce and teach sexism to the users of that language. Language feeds back the sexism, sexism feeds back through language. Treating symptoms of disease alone will not eliminate the disease, but may help, while…

Discusses Viktor Lowenfeld's influence on art education in general. Assesses the impact of popular culture on perceptions of art and art education, arguing that to be of value, art education must surpass contemporary culture and introduce students to the larger storehouse of human history and achievement. (GEA)

Discusses how changes in public school students and the culture that produces them have affected the teaching of history. Examines aspects of MTV's success for clues to the source of students' view of history as irrelevant. Attributes the view to the blurring of differences between the sacred and profane, connections between cause and effect, and…

This is a conversation concerning pop culture between Don F. Rogerson, Head of the Humanities Department of Baltimore City College and chairman of a faculty committee for the development of an experimental, humanities-oriented three-year high school, and John Cawelti, Professor of English and Humanities at the University of Chicago and chairman of…

This study compared adults' impressions of rock music with those of teenagers and found vast differences. Youths reported hearing subjects relating to their lives such as "growing up" while adults heard more references to sex and violence. Perhaps the differing impressions reflect differences in learning, experience, and literary…

The field of rehabilitation counseling faces many uncertainties in the coming years. Some details of these uncertainties are discussed. The paper provides several examples of past predictions that have not held true. Some current predictions, including the continuation of the current economic upswing, technological innovation, and genetic research…

The traditional conception of pluralistic culture is contrasted with a new, separate form of culture: mass media culture. Its components are noted: medium, message, "mosaic," and strategy, and methodology for its study is discussed. (MSE)

Just as the study of literary classics can produce an increased awareness of cultural and intellectual history so also can the study of what is labeled "trash"--whether it turns out to be tomorrow's "classic" or only tomorrow's memorabilia--be consciousness-raising, providing new insights into the relationship between self and society. (Author/RK)

Examines the terms used to describe the process of subcultural change (adaptation, appropriation, commodization, cooptation, and incorporation), demonstrating their limits. Introduces a more exact term, "persistence," and recommends its use and the elimination of other terms. Uses one subcultural organization, Redwood Records (a women's…

Music can help create a good moral environment if it is music that can be shared, that channels emotions and shapes the soul, that has stood the test of time, and that tells a story. Today's rock music all too often plays a destructive role in leading youth away from virtue. (SLD)

If America is culturally diverse by history and habit, it is religiously diverse by design and by law. Although religion may be the strongest form of shared culture, and although people refuse to have any official religious establishment, they are surprisingly reluctant to celebrate that form of diversity anymore. In this article, the author takes…

Much has been written about literacy and popular culture but less about the role, if any, of popular culture in children's play. In view of the fact that play is recognized by many as a primary mode of learning, particularly in the early years, and also as an essential process in the representation of ideas and feelings, this is something that…

The current Australian scene is a good example of how American culture as portrayed in the mass media is reflected by a receptor national culture. Australia, sharing a similar history and a common language with the United States, has virtually no resistance to American culture. Some differences in national characteristics, such as the Australian…