xxv Second difficulty is about the problem of taste. Although taste can never
be absolute, it does seem to develop the practice. The more the audience read, see, hear, the more they are exposed to. In other words, popular culture is more
democratic since they are accessible to larger number of people. It often depends on a mass audience for their very existence Hammel, 1977: 1. Therefore, the
level of cultural development or education of the people has a direct bearing on the quality of popular culture ibid., p. 3-4.
2. The Beliefs and Values
Beliefs and values are the ideas which cannot be “seen” in and of themselves. They exist in the cultural mind and in the minds of the individual
member of mass society. Beliefs and values closer to the surface in “The House of Popular Culture” are those which are most transitory, shallow, and faddish.
Beliefs and values deep down in the solid rock of the house’s foundation can be termed “bedrock beliefs and values” because they are the most stable,
longstanding, and significant ones characteristic of broad components of the total population. Recently, cultural analysts have begun to refer to the bedrock beliefs
as “myths” Nachbar and Lause, 1992: 22-23. Mindset is a view of reality based upon only limited evidence but believed
to be entirely correct by those who hold it. The mindset consists of beliefs the view of reality and values the judgment or evaluation of that reality expressed
in material forms artifact or events. Mindset are formed by two elements namely individual experience which makes each mindset unique, and cultural
experience which one shares with others and thus makes mindsets of those in the same culture bear a strong resemblance to each other. ibid., p. 8.
xxvi People share their beliefs and values with other people in society. They
differ from one society to another. After people see some specific realities or phenomena in society and propose their own view of reality beliefs, then they
learn for several values. Most of people’s basic values are learned in life from family, friend, mass media, and other sources within society. The beliefs and
values are generally shared and reinforced by others in daily interaction. They are sometimes emotional and each of them are also in conflict either in one individual
or between individuals in society Eshleman, et.al.. 1993: 6. In addition to the conflict contradiction, at least there are three other
kinds of natural complexity in the relationship of myths, beliefs, and values. The complete four kinds of the complexity are:
a. Each myth has a number of associated beliefs and values
b. Each myth and its associated beliefs and values is related to at leas
one other myth in a symbiotic manner c.
Popular myths often contradict each other in important ways d.
Beliefs change and evolve over time Nachbar and Lause, 1992: 99-101
3. The Position of Popular Culture
