1. Sociology and Popular Culture Lecture Two
Pop Culture ™

2. The Circuit of Capital Karl Marx
M-C-M’
M - Money
C - Commodity
‘ - Surplus value

3. Popular Culture ™
We only want a thing if it has a use-value (subjective)
Business is interested in exchange-value (objective)
Labour produces social use-values in exchange for wages
They add a ‘surplus’ that is not compensated for hence labour is exploited. It is from this surplus that the capitalist derives profit
‘Popular’ culture has social use-value
Popular culture is ‘consumed’ by the labour force that produces it
Capital has an incentive to reproduce the successful artefacts through which ‘formulas’ are established