According to the book Common Culture, "pop culture is the shared knowledge and practices of a specific group at a specific time" (Petracca, 2007, p 4). In other words popular culture is what a group of people fin interesting and relevent at that time. I say at that time because popular culture for a society changes as peoples ideas change. At one point in time, big hair is in, then short hair, then long straight hair. Popular culture is a reflection of what is "popular" in society.
Understanding popular culture is important in weveryday life, in the business life exspecialy. This is because in order to work with people, you must know where they are coming from. Take for example smoking. It has happened to me once that I was smoking in my car on break and a couple walked by my open window. I heard a comment about how I was killing myself by smoking, do I have to subject them to the poisen as well. I would consider peoples recent bad attitude towards cigarettes a reflection of popular culture. Society is telling people that smoking is bad. There is the thought that people who smoke have no consideration for the health of non-smokers. Another example would be how "country" restaurants have begun putting televisions in there restaurants because customers now want to watch tv when they eat. This is a new fad that is starting to influence building plans in restaurants.
My future career is in accounting and I can already see popular culture affecting accounting procedures. The economy is currently in a ressecion, so popular culture has begun to reflect the idea of saving and getting the most for your dollar. Accountants responsible for costing items have begun focusing on the best prices for consumers but still making money for the company.
An example of a current pop culture artifact would be the worlds new emphasis on going green. It is a new fad that may pass, but is important to most of society at the moment. I feel this is a good artifact of our time period because it shows a positive ideal for our society.
example of going green fad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgDJ_H-BzFo
