ABSTRACT
The origin of the word “common” is uncertain. There are countless references and many meanings. The great Greek philosophers, such as Thales, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, developed this idea. One idea Cicero absorbed from the Greeks was that of a sound mind in a sound body. All parts must function in harmony with the others, and the whole must reflect and stay in phase with nature. The community shares artifacts, mentifacts, icons, ideas, and yearnings. Language, codes, gestures, rituals, and symbols are means of expression, but the essence of community—and hence of popular culture—is intangible. The daily life and culture of the prehistoric and preindustrial world is elusive. There was a remarkable change of attitude among the educated. Most people meet Everyman in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
