Media, Popular Culture, the relationship

Media and Popular Culture.

Media and popular culture go hand in hand; one does not exist without the other. Popular culture or mainstream culture refers to behavior and artifacts accepted by the majority of the population. It evolves or changes with time, within different contexts and to varying degrees within cultures. These are enacted during the course of their daily interaction with the society in which they live. Media refers to the tools through which communication and by extension knowledge transfer. Media comprises print, broadcast, electronic and internet forms used in transmission.

In order for popular culture to exist it needs to be transferred across cultures, society and geographic areas. Media provides the means of this transfer as it has the ability to cover vast expanses of geography at any given time. This ability in knowledge transfer facilitates the ever changing characteristics of popular culture. Without this transfer ability popular culture would simply be another culture bound by tradition and geographic restrictions. 

Media in its various platforms propels changes in behavior and symbolic representation almost simultaneously toward their particular niches. Individuals who are print and those in electronic can be fed the same elements of popular culture, which can focus their attention or points of view in the same direction. This facilitation allows for popular culture to occupy the main areas of human life across the various demographics which comprise the modern society.

In early times the main source was print and broadcast media, which at the time was appropriate for cultural transfer. With the advancement in media and through the internet in particular has morphed the changes in culture transmission in a split second, with the individuals being encoded where ever they are located.

For popular culture to continue mass media has to its major partner, simply because of its communicative ability. Without this it would fail to exist or be restricted to even smaller segments of society.

Can popular culture exist outside the realm of media? 

Can its effect be as pronounced within society?