High And Low Culture Essay Example

The distinction between high and low culture is associated with a distinction between what can be considered artistic, or challenging, and the type of culture that is generally more popular with the masses. The root of the distinction stems from the idea that high culture is synonymous with culture, and that those who do not participate in it are somehow lesser than those who do. Whilst this distinction has been around for hundreds of years, it became a common term in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. There are a number of different organizations that try to continue the distinction between high culture and low culture. Organizations that fund the arts, for example, typically focus on classical composers, drama, and art as it is seen in museums. This helps to keep it distinct from culture in the form of television or popular music, which do not receive the same type of funding and rely more closely on being successful with the masses.
Personally, I do not think that the definition of high culture and popular culture is that useful today. There will always be a need for people to separate themselves from others in terms of what they enjoy and how they enjoy it, but this does not necessarily have to be in the form of the existing distinction. People who are fans of certain musicians, for example, often consider their work to be above the work of bands that they do not like, but both would be classified as popular culture in the existing terms. Now that museums and theatres offer cheaper tickets for engaging with art and drama that would have previously been considered high culture, there is less of a class distinction between who can have access to these types of culture.