Culture is the learned behavior of our society. This may include knowledge, beliefs, values, customs, art, entertainment, and the way we act, feel or think about our surroundings. Popular culture is a shared knowledge and behaviors of a society at a specific time. It Is widespread and generally accepted by most people. Three major trends In American pop culture are music, television, and fashion. The music listened to at a specific time is the voice of that generation expressing themselves. The ass’s had disco, the ass’s had new wave and big hair bands, and the g’s had pop, rap and grunge bands.
Television is a major trend because it influences how we view society today. Long gone are the days of wholesome family sitcoms such as Happy Days and Lavender and Shirley, we know have Family Guy, The Office, and reality shows. The language and situations used in these programs today would not have been acceptable, and probably would have been banned, a couple decades ago. Fashion Is a trend that is always changing. These changes can occur due to the Influences of the popular celebrities and musicians that society holds In sigh regard.
American popular culture has a gallants Influence on personal decision making. In today’s society we are surrounded by advertisements, celebrities, magazines and web sites which show us how we should dress, how much we should weigh, how to wear our hair, what car we should drive, what we should eat and drink and so on. It is part of our human nature to want to “fit in”. When faced with a decision, we are most apt to decide with the most popular trends of our time. We choose products and services that we have been exposed to in our daily life.