Introducing Popular Jane...

The idea for this blog came from the lecture, "Race and Ethnicity" and focuses on the idea of culturelessness among the white race. I think it is important to define race and the definition given in the lecture states that race is "a way of classifying or grouping people based upon physical/biological traits which have been given social significance." Another interesting topic discussed was the idea that many white people carry around a sense of guilt for the domination white groups have traditionally practiced over non-white groups. The "invisibility" of whiteness was discussed and the fact that the norm is to assume that white is not a race and does not have a culture. It was mentioned that the words diversity and multiculturalism only pertain to non-white groups.

I think that this is a feeling that pervades many Caucasians and drives them to construct an identity for themselves that is not based around race. Ethnicity is a common way for many people to do this, but younger generations are using very different tools. For the under-30 set, it seems very common to identify yourself by what you like, instead of who you are. This is where pop culture comes in. Pop culture is, essentially, only what is popular among the masses and it seems that what is popular is defined by the media. We can see what trends are in through television, radio, movies, magazines and the Internet. So it seems that for many young Caucasians white culture is popular culture. We have adopted what is portrayed in the media as cool for our sense of identity. The sense of guilt that many white people feel about the past treatment of other races has led to the idea that having an idea of "white culture" is a bad thing. We do not want to be perceived as setting ourselves apart or above other races for fear of seeming racist. This also contributes to the adopting of pop culture, because this doesn't force us to identify with out race. We do not want to identify ourselves as white, we want to identify with out ethnic backgrounds, with a certain subculture or through the things we like, because this is easier than identifying with a race that has a background of unfair domintion of other people.

So, because we now see many elements of pop culture as white culture, this blog features different popular things, such as subcultures, websites, fashion choices and music. By looking at these different things and understanding them, we can get a sense of what Caucasians use to construct their identities and sense of culture. By looking at what is popular in the media, we can see the tools that many youth use the construct their identites around what is popular instead of what is "white."

This blog contains twelve different posts about all different things and you can scroll down to the bottom and click "older posts" to see those that are not shown on this page. You can also use the tool on the right side of the page to choose specific posts. Because this is media, and to be a part of media you must have an audience, you can choose to view the comments readers have left, or look at the polls they have voted in. Enjoy!