ABSTRACT
Public debates about education and culture often invoke deep-seated anxieties about the influence of the media on young people. The concerns about ‘sloppy speech’ and ‘voyeurism’ noted in our introduction are merely one aspect of a much wider phenomenon. Ultimately, the threat which seems to be posed by studying popular culture in schools derives not simply from the need to preserve particular ‘standards’ of cultural value but from much more fundamental concerns about the negative moral, intellectual and political effects of the media.
