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Adding the Study of Popular Culture to the Scope of Intercultural Communication: An Exploratory Case Study of Popular Culture’s Impactability on Chinese Post-’80 Youth

Author: LuYan
Tutor: GuLiXing
School: Shanghai International Studies University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Pop culture post-80 Chinese youth youth culture media
CLC: G122
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2009
Downloads: 661
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Abstract

In the recent decade, popular, or pop, culture has been pervasive in every aspect of Chinese society. The question is to what degree it has brought about changes in this new generation. Many scholars suggest there are shifts, but few have found ways to effectively study them. This thesis suggests that both―pop culture‖and―youth culture‖can effectively be studied using the concepts and tools of intercultural communication. And that the importation of western pop trends on Chinese youth born in this impressionable period (since 1980) is actually an―intercultural‖phenomenon, and therefore a worthy case for study.Popular culture can be generally defined as the latest development portrayed in media, including print, online, and on screen that is rigorously followed by the masses, especially the young people, so as to form a trend. Professional academic fields of pop culture studies are being developed. Scholars are now pursuing academic careers, publishing in prestigious journals, and conducting seminars - all in the name of pop culture.Likewise, intercultural communication has emerged as a solid field of study. From developments in the second half of the last century, by the 1970s, intercultural communication scholars started developing readers, textbooks, courses, theories and solid research paradigms. In the early years, these were mostly applied to the comparisons of culture at the national level (e.g. contrasting Americans and Japanese), but in recent years, the trend has been to apply these to sub-cultural variations, and compare such things as the cultures of ethnic groups (e.g. African-Americans or Hispanic-Americans), men and women (gender culture), or generational culture differences. This thesis proposes that to look effectively at youth culture shifts, pop culture needs to be considered as a type of global intercultural influence. The term―post-‘80 born Chinese‖(often shortened as post-‘80s) refers to the Chinese youngsters who were born during 1980s. This group of people has certain common traits such as similarity of age and language, being influenced by the Reform and Opening-up Policy, often only-children, having developed a kind of self-righteousness and at the same time open-mindedness, patterns of being―mouse-potatoes watching Potatoes (tudou.com)‖, being aspiring and eager to innovate and be different, and so forth. So, they are often viewed and discussed as a certain group. This group of people has witnessed and is strongly imprinted by the fast- and dramatic-changing Chinese society, much of it promoted by the media, including the subtle and sometimes radical nuances of sexual liberation.Therefore it is very interesting to see what has happened when the two elements mix with each other: pop culture, especially foreign media importation with the new Chinese youth context. How has the intercultural influence of pop cultures affected post-‘80 born Chinese youngsters? This thesis focuses on the impactability of different pop cultures on these post-‘80 youth.For the above purpose, I have asked 50 post-‘80s of different backgrounds and from different regions of China to answer 4 sets of research questionnaires on paper or via email. The research, analysis and results of this thesis are all based upon the data collected from those questionnaires.Using intercultural concepts, we note that cultural changes often occur through the three most common mechanisms: innovation, diffusion, and acculturation (Samovar, Porter, & Stefani, 1998). The thesis thus further discusses this dynamic interaction between cultures and the persons during the changing process.The paper concludes by pointing out tentative suggestions for easing the cultural adaptation of the youngsters and some suggestions for future research.

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