ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses cultural studies and theory as knowledges and, therefore, as culture. It is concerned primarily with 'textual' mediations of popular knowledge whether virtual, televisual, journalistic, or literary. On the conservative side, there is a concern that real knowledge has given way to a form of political correctness in schools while on the other, more liberal side, concern is expressed over what counts as the 'real knowledge' in the first place. Apple's observation regarding the relationship between 'official' and popular knowledges, along with his recommendation to look more closely at popular knowledge to understand more hilly the cultural and political role of knowledge as a whole, will serve as useful prompts for Knowledge Goes Pop. Popular knowledges like conspiracy theory or alien abduction narratives might once have fit the definition of a subcultural knowledge.
