Understanding Popular Culture from a Sociological Lens

The fourth Web-talk for the academic year 2021-22, organized by the Department of Sociology, and approved by IQAC, Loreto College was held on April 21, 2022. The invited speaker for this Web-talk was Dr. Debapriya Ganguly, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, and also a Visiting Faculty at the Interdisciplinary School of Sciences at the Savitribai Phule Pune University. She completed her Doctoral degree in Sociology in 2018 from the University of Hyderabad, which was followed by her role as a consultant with the Citizens’ Rights Collective and ActionAid Karnataka on a tri-city project on the Smart City Mission and the urban deprived communities. Her research interests include Urban Studies, Social Theory, Popular Culture, Sociology of Development and Regional Modernities. Her on-going research focuses on Cities and Pandemics.

The title of her presentation was Understanding Popular Culture from a Sociological Lens. This Web-talk was designed to familiarize students with the concept of popular culture and also help them understand the relevance and impact of popular culture in our society. Through her presentation, the speaker pointed out how market and media plays an important role in shaping the ‘politics of representation’ and class based variations. Drawing reference from the contributions of many scholars such as Raymond Williams, Antonio Gramsci, Pierre Bourdieu and John Storey, the concept was explained. As the speaker infused multiple examples from everyday life, the students were encouraged to develop an understanding of popular culture as a relative concept. The Web-talk was attended by Sociology Elective students from both Semester 2 and 4, and they were encouraged to ask what is the impact of popular culture instead of asking what is popular culture.