Introduction
Culture is the primary characteristic of a specific group of people who share a common language, religion, values, and social identities. Many scholars define culture as patterns of activities and communication, cognitive structures, and understanding acquired in the context of socialization. Thus, it can be seen as an increase in group identity, which is stimulated by the social patterns that characterize this group. Culture includes basic factors of social togetherness and living such as religion, social values, food, our language, music, and ways of living with varying frequencies of interactions. Southgate College in London mentioned that the word "culture" is shorthand for socially shared symbols, values, beliefs, attitudes, and cultural identities passed down through generations.
Actually, the culture in the present scenario intended to suit to the taste and understanding of social phenomenon to connect the society and social capitals to enhance the change in the social scenario because culture has become the key to our interconnected world, which consists of so many ethnically diverse societies, religion, ethnicity, ethical beliefs. It also can be concluded that popular culture is a kind of cultural transformation due to the great influence of media and media contents; it certainly has a variety of perspectives such as economic, political, sociological, and historical. Popular culture is influenced by all of the sociological factors and issues that are happening around us in the current scenario of media globalization, and it is acceptable to the majority of people in society. In the present time of the digital revolution and the expansion of globalization, people are living in a global village and have very close contact with everyone. People can communicate effectively and efficiently around the world. Global communication has given a new face to cultural change and the development of a new era of cultural communication where regional restrictions and cultural barriers are also playing a very effective role in social development. Globalization and social transformation are acting as a catalyst to accelerate and influence all of the fundamental elements of the original culture, known as pop culture. Popular culture strongly influences the thinking and behavioural patterns of social capital and the mind-set of society. The people are changing, and the youth are active practitioners of popular culture, which was influenced by the media and global variables.
Popular Culture
The term “popular culture” can be defined in many ways and have several interpretations. The popular culture is a kind of mass culture accepted by majority of people in the society. According to Mcgarh, popular culture is an acceptance of values, ideas, viewpoints and other phenomena in the majority of people of a specific culture. According to Parker, popular culture consists of products whose production and consumption require very cultural capital (2011). Crosman (2017) defines popular culture as a set of cultural products that are consumed by most of society, such as music, new media culture, film, television, fashion and radio. In general, popular culture refers to the “culture of the people” that prevails in a particular society and at a particular time. The way people interact in their daily lives defines popular culture. Music, TV shows, fashion, food and our style of clothing are examples of popular culture topics. Accessibility for most masses is one of the main features of mass culture. The popular culture is an acceptance of culture by the majority of people and follow certain ideology to change and to modernize the society.
Research method
The belongingness of the group representation of any society, county, or community is mainly represented as cultural identity. Cultural identity is actually the outcome of the sharing of the same rituals, cultural values, and ideas within a society, which collectively give a new face value to the community and its unifications. The study is based on an article that was chosen as a focal point to represent pop culture (popular culture) and its representation in youth. The main variable here is cultural identity. The present paper has taken the following points to analyse the impact of pop culture on youth.
Ethnicity and fashion,
Digital transformation,
Media-based transformation
The entire research was based on two factors: cultural identity and popular culture. However, cultural identity and popular culture are the main genres behind the research survey. In the questionnaire, the options for the analysis were based on the 5-point Likert scale, and the questions were mainly designed to evaluate the interest of youth in the present scenario and social diversification. The impact of popular culture on society is a dynamic process and it has a deep impact on the mindset and perception of people in the society. This new perception and values give new belief and opinion to the masses which are expressed as new identity. This paper, therefore, analysed the idea based on the exposure to popular culture has an impact on the youth group. The total no. of valid questionnaires taken into consideration for analysis were 187, out of which 102 were males and 85 females, with an average age of 24.
Research Interpretations
In the research process, the researcher has introduced the youth generation to popular with the traditional culture by analysing their opinion on the contents of Internet, Cinema, and programs on Television. The traditional culture is the basis of any society or community. As far as the influence of traditional media is concerned, the traditional aspect of culture is a result of traditional thinking and approaches, which include the clothing style, rituals, religious values, social beliefs, and music style. Overall, theses variable result cultural identity. In the present study, these variables are taken into consideration in order to understand the acceptance of traditional values by youth.
Table 1
Traditional variables of cultural Identity
| S. No. | Traditional Indicators | Percentage (%) |
| 1 | Clothing style | 31 |
| 2 | Rituals | 22 |
| 3 | Religions values | 21 |
| 4 | Social beliefs | 15 |
| 5 | Music style | 11 |
| Total = 100% | ||
It’s is clear from the mentioned table that the traditional style of clothing, rituals social beliefs and music are the representation of local belongingness and interest of local people. Respondent from age group 21 to 26 mainly agreed that television and internet are influencing the youth generation and about half of samples were interested in traditional music culture. Many respondents were also interested in foreign music and culture of such as Arabic tunes in Indian songs. So, it’s a kind of inclusion of other ethnicities. This shows the cultural assimilation in the social platform. The traditional approaches and a variable are not well accepted by the youth. Therefore, the cultural identity of youth and new generation people are very much dependant on the content available on new media
Table-2
Analysis of Categories to Show Acceptance of Traditional Culture
| S.NO. | Categories | Strongly Agree | Agree | No Idea | Disagree | Strongly Disagree |
| 1 | Traditional idea related of all ethnic understanding | 16 % | 13 % | 25 % | 29 % | 17 % |
| 2 | Music related to traditional culture | 20 % | 25 % | 21 % | 29 % | 6 % |
| 3 | Language used for understandings of local culture | 16 % | 17 % | 20 % | 21 % | 26 % |
| 4 | Familiarly to accept local Rituals | 16 % | 18 % | 17 % | 22 % | 27 % |
As mentioned in the table, traditional factors are not influencing the mindset of youth in the present society; people are more using the traditional idea, and as per the survey, the percentage of people who agreed with this viewpoint is very low, i.e., 29% only. On the other hand, if we look at the use of language and local culture, rituals, and local or traditional music, the data is very surprising, as the value of information and the practices related to communication are really not up to the mark. The percentage of people who agreed on these factors as a parameter of influence is around 20%, which clearly indicates that around 80 percent of people are not at all interested in traditional approaches to society and culture. Traditional values, beliefs, and expression are the most important parts of any society and the people living in it. The survey clearly indicates that the youth are not interested in having the traditional approach, and in some cases, it was found that the people’s feelings on the core local culture are not respectable and acceptable in the present time of commercialization, modernization, and a materialistic scenario.
On the other hand, the popular culture is also taken into account to understand the value of people's acceptance on the popular culture, and the factors or variables taken into consideration were:
Western Culture
Modern Music
Modern Trends
Modern Behaviour
Modern Ideologies
Table 3
Modern Cultural variables of cultural Identity
| S. No. | Traditional Indicators | Percentage |
| 1 | Western Culture | 25% |
| 2 | Modern Music | 17% |
| 3 | Modern Trends | 16% |
| 4 | Modern Behaviour | 19% |
| 5 | Modern Ideologies | 23% |
| Total = 100% | ||
It’s is clear from the mentioned table that the Western culture, Ideology, trends, and music are the representation of local belongingness and interest of local people. Respondent from age group 21 to 26 mainly agreed that the present contemporary media and other social interactions lead to the development of new-culturism in the society.
This new culture and ideological changes are very common in the society and may be considered as one of the examples of media consumerism and socio-cultural shifts.
Table 4
Analysis of Categories to Show Acceptance of Popular Culture
| S.NO. | Categories | StronglyAgree | Agree | NoIdea | Disagree | StronglyDisagree |
| 1 | Influence of western Culture | 32 % | 29 % | 15 % | 15% | 9 % |
| 2 | Influence of Music | 36 % | 31 % | 13 % | 14 % | 6 % |
| 3 | Influence of Trends | 29 % | 26 % | 10 % | 16 % | 19 % |
| 4 | Influence of Behaviour | 23 % | 17 % | 7 % | 17 % | 7 % |
| 5 | Influence of Ideologies | 23% | 14% | 11% | 17% | 11% |
According to the survey data and the table, young generations today are astounded by Western culture and are heavily influenced by their country's cultural diversity and heritage. The influence of western culture, language, music, trends, and ideological expression is really influencing our youth and changing their behavior. In fact, the acceptance of new cultures by young people in their expressions gives new directions to social development. Western culture is gradually becoming a part of life; our lifestyle, level of communication, and language of expression certainly have an amazing impact on the people. This gives a new sense of media consumerism and the acceptance of a new style that is far away from the conventional style of society, which is further called "popular culture."
Conclusion and Discussion
The research data supported the goal that pop culture variables (fashion, film, television, music, and culture) have a strong influence on young people's cultural identities. This increases attractiveness towards the new culture, strengthens emotional attachment to the new identity, and supports the attitude to accept new popular happenings in society that are primarily popularized by a group of youth. Statistics also show that media, particularly new media and social media sites, have created a new scenario with new trends for popular culture and how new generations perceive it. Film, television, and new media have positive effects on the popular cultural perception of young people. According to the data, traditional values, fashion, and ethnicity all contribute to young people's cultural identities, assisting them in their understanding of culture and passionate recognition. Young people are the primary consumers and users who characterize the difference between dominant cultures, i.e., pop culture, and the decline of traditional culture. This is the reason that validates the information in the present, resulting in the creation of new cultural value in society.
The findings also claim that in the present time of media globalization and consumerism, the media are the main factor that influences and accelerates the adoption of new cultures and makes them a kind of mass culture. Young people are greatly influenced by foreign film and television productions and the variety of Enterprise shows. Young people were experiencing to western film and cyber world and gradually came into contact with the new tendencies of foreign culture and even believed that foreign culture was superior to ours, which interfered with the establishment of a new mass cultural identity. This certainly indicates the strengthening of popular uniqueness of the youth group in modern culture. Furthermore, the popularity of foreign festivals influences people's and society's traditional cultural perceptions; Halloween is a prime example of this. According to the data, the majority of respondents believe that the spread of new lifestyle from other part of society and domain influences people's perceptions, particularly youth perceptions, and changes their belief to accept and express it in their attitude. Therefore, young people are really experiencing the great impact of media globalization in changing their perception and accepting popular cultures in terms of ethnicity, language, music, and festivals as a representation of new flavour and social eminence, which further indicates the importance of popular cultural identity.
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