Despite the international success of reggae music, a survey of Jamaican recording artists revealed disillusionment, anger and frustration with the national recording industry. Various artists identified a lack of professional ethics and discipline, and above all, lack of an updated copyright law as being at the root of the problem. Since Jamaica…

Discusses the Little Man's Book, a highly acclaimed literary form that enlightens and educates Chinese youth. Notes that the literary and artistic beauty of these picture storybooks lead Chinese youngsters to regard the books as excellent teachers and good friends. Argues that these books are an important aspect of Chinese cultural life. (RS)

Returning women students (n=36) analyzed romance novels, becoming aware of how the genre privileges particular groups and values. They explored connections between the texts and their lives and recognized how cultural and social expectations are reflected in the novels and circumscribe their lives. (SK)

Our discussion of social justice begins by embracing both "distribution" and "recognition" aspects of social relations (Vincent, 2003). The first aspect considers the way that goods, knowledge, skills, rights, etc. are distributed among social groups; the second aspect focuses on aspects of society structuring social encounters…

To examine how the contents of Korean television serial dramas have changed and to determine trends of their portrayals of male and female characters' lifestyles, a study analyzed Korean television dramas of 1977 and 1987. A sample of three channels' video--22 daily and 14 weekly episodes of 18 different television dramas during weekday prime time…

Boundary crises for girls moving into adolescence were studied by analyzing "Seventeen" magazine to contribute to the discourse around redefining childhood. The border between childhood and adolescence appears to be moving downward, and as the boundary goes down, the moral panic in society often goes up. To analyze "Seventeen,"…

Recent contact with harmonic and popular music has radically changed traditional forms of Indian music. The impact of Western music on classical styles, the social role of folk and popular music, and aspects of the social structure of music are discussed. (AM)

Postmodern media culture widens the gap between school and children's external environments; it challenges the critical objective of media education. Students' efforts at media production manifest a more playful concept of knowledge and learning, requiring a more comprehensive postmodern approach to media education. (Contains 47 references.) (SK)

Discusses bibliographical and historical methods for discovering popular reading habits of past communities and presents a case study of the popular reading habits in Ulster between 1700 and 1900. Collectors of popular literature are discussed, and a definition of popular literature is suggested. (14 references) (LRW)

Suggests that conflicts in early Soviet literature over reader's identity and function presages many issues in critical understanding of audiences, especially as reflected in the antithetical Frankfurt and Birmingham School positions. Argues that how the mass reader was invoked, defined, and appropriated for institutional needs in the Soviet…

This paper argues that the existence of a canon of established and privileged texts in the primary literacy curriculum in England can be traced historically and has informed current national policy and practice. This canonisation of a particular set of literature has served to marginalise popular cultural and media texts, often the preferred texts…

In this article, the author presents his survey on contemporary idol worship (idolatry) which is a new turn in mankind's phenomenon of social idol worship and an important manifestation of the cultural reconfiguration of contemporary times. The principal group of persons presently engaged in idol worship consists of children and young people.…

This paper is written primarily as a call to those of us in the special education field in Australia to become more actively involved in responding to the popular culture construction of disability as it takes place in the mainstream media. It is not the aim to define the form such activism should take but rather to raise awareness of the issue…

The world is moving toward a uniform material culture, dominated by mostly material American influences: technological innovations, fashion, Hollywood and the celebrity culture it promotes, hip-hop, and rock and roll. But the pervasiveness of the trappings of American culture obscures the central cultural paradox that lies within the…

This paper presented by the Quebec (Canada) Minister of Communications contends that until the 1900s the cultural essence of a particular western country was found in its folk-tales, folk-songs, and the daily activities of ordinary people. The growth of the electronic and mass media has industrialized popular culture, and large-scale passive…