Questios of Culture and Ideology

In Chapter 2 Barker goes over the ideas of high and low culture and how popular culture is a variant of both meshed together. Barker also gives examples of Culture and social formations as well as Gramsci’s theory. Gramsci states that culture is created and constructed based on the ideals and standards of those of the high class. Ideologies and hegemony are thus created by the class with the most power and their standards and enforced among the lower classes and societies. Barker goes over both Marx’s theory of culture and Gramsci, as well as others who believe that culture is based on a hierarchy of social standards that are created in order from the highest class to the lower. He states that “Culture is a corporeal force tied into the socially organized production of the material conditions of existence.”(Pg.55) His analysis thus demonstrates the differences in culture between low and high class, based on the superstructure in Marxists theory.