Culture is one of the most important variables that define a civilization. In this paper, the author focuses on the different types of culture that exist in the country of Puerto Rico. Here, the author talks about popular and official culture, and authentic and commercial culture, citing some concrete examples along the way.
In terms of differentiating popular and official culture, the best way to simplify it is to say that an official culture can be both an official and a popular culture but a popular culture may not always be both the popular and official culture. Popular culture pertains to the entirety of the mainstream perspectives, ideas, attitudes, and other phenomena in a society. For example, ever since Puerto Rico has been established as a United States territory, it has been easier for its citizens to embrace a popular culture that is more inclined to the western culture but not necessarily to their own culture. In the book Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico, author Arlene Davila pointed many facts suggesting that the Puerto Rican culture that people now know of today is something that is fabricated or if not, mass mediated .
Puerto Ricans have their own culture, majority of which are South American and Caribbean in nature, which only makes sense because it is situated in those territories. In most cases, popular culture tends to be more dynamic and rapidly shifting than the official culture. According to Davila, “the case of Puerto Rica provides a good example of cultural nationalism and a unique entry point for examining the issues at stake in contemporary cultural struggles” . For example, evidences of culture such as those that can be found in the fields of architecture, arts, media, music, cuisine, sports, and literature may be hardwired to that of the official culture.
This is one of the main reasons why it has been proven to be so hard for a country to assimilate another country by means of subjugating its official culture. It might do away with strengthening its cultural clout by injecting new forms of popular culture that the members of the target society might readily consume, which is what is happening in most non-western countries like Puerto Rico, they are being showered with a lot of contents that have western cultural origins. Then again, at the end of the day, it would most likely be the country’s official culture that will prevail.
Authentic culture may be defined as the culture of the people. This is where it gets problematic because there are numerous ways how this can be done. For example, what is the scope of the definition of the term “people?” Additionally, what aspects of culture would it refer to? Practically, authentic culture is similar to popular or mainstream culture in that they are both the type of culture that is being practiced by the majority of the population. In Puerto Rico’s case, for example, it may be argued that its authentic culture is slowly shaping up to be similar to that of the United States, with it being a U.S. territory and all.
Commercial culture, on the other hand, may be defined as the type of culture that is being promoted by the mass media, for the mass consumption by the public. In most cases, this also turns out to be the authentic culture because Puerto Rico’s people, for example, are so heavily exposed to various forms of mass media such as television shows and the internet. It all depends on what is being showed and presented in those mediums. It is clear however, that both in terms of commercial and popular culture, Puerto Rican culture is slowly but surely becoming more inclined to that of the west, particularly that of the United States, which only makes sense because it is technically under its jurisdiction. The good thing about Puerto Rican culture, however, is that its official culture can still be easily recognized, which means that it still exists and a solid percentage of the population still has not turned its back on it.
Works Cited
Davila, Arlene. "Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico." Temple University Press (1997): 01-320. Print.
