An uneasy return to the role of popular culture

Abstract

The editorial for the thematic issue of Media and Communication, “From Sony’s Walkman to RuPaul’s Drag Race: A Landscape of Contemporary Popular Culture,” looks at the prevailing themes of earlier studies of popular culture, from Raymond Williams’ organic culture to the postmodern embrace of commodity culture, in relation to the current cultural moment of disruption and unease. The editorial then synthesizes the articles contained in the issue against where the study of popular culture has been and where we may anticipate it going.