ABSTRACT

In democratic societies the various social classes wage a struggle for living space and ascendency, for the right to enjoy culture in line with their interests, world views, and values. Culture affects the distribution of resources, power, and prestige in at least two ways. First, culture is transmitted by institutions such as television networks and schools, and such institutions participate in the governmental or party politics of almost every society. Second, culture provides people with symbols, myths, values, and information about their society. In America, high culture is politically too weak to appear in the mass media, and the major cultural-political struggles take place within popular culture, particularly over erotic and quasi-erotic material. Formal censorship plays only a minor role in America's politics of culture. An analysis of the patterns of cultural politics in America is best carried out by comparing it with governmental or party politics.