Rituals and stereotypes in contemporary popular culture

Rituals and stereotypes in contemporary popular culture
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Rituals and stereotypes in contemporary popular culture
Introduction
Stereotypes and rituals are important concepts that currently exist in the world today. They are mostly found in the popular culture and practiced by individuals knowingly or unknowingly. Rituals pertain to different patterns and actions that are practiced for various reasons. They are however followed or practiced for purposes of remembering the past. Rituals are actions or things performed in a particular contrast norm or protocol that is viewed as normal. Stereotypes are clear perceptions by individuals when they consider things or peculiar characteristics of people to be similar.
Personal Rituals and Stereotypes in music and the internet
Facebook is my favorite website, and it is vital and commonly used on a daily basis. The reason behind its being favourite is because members on the social forum use it to share and document different rituals that pertain to different individuals. Unfortunately, such users project their stereotypes while posting comments or memes. Stereotypes and rituals can easily be displayed by Facebook members when it is used.

Facebook is likeable as a site because it helps individuals to post different photos and events they might want to remember in future. Most of these photos are often from different holiday events and family members who would wish to have them as memories in the future.

Other members use different forms of art for the same purpose of showing them to others in the same forum. People also have a culture of commenting on the photos posted, and this has become a popular culture among many users. Rituals have been brought into the modern day and age through Facebook, a fact that has made it possible for members to appreciate continually other people’s culture around the globe (Romanoff, 2008).

Stereotypes are common around the world and are in use by other generations since the existence of man. Stereotypes have not changed even after the man considered himself modern through the changes that have been effected by technological advancements. Stereotypes are also existence in the use of social platforms like Facebook, and this is not surprising since Facebook is used by normal people who use the site to express their ideas freely. The open policy by different social media users has led to the display of different pictures without any consequence of victimization. The stereotypes that exist in Facebook include the ideas of postings photos and commenting on people one is connected to, as opposed to those who are not likeable. Through comments, there are always memes or captions in accordance with the posted information. Such posts often lead to different remarks that may fuel debates and also cause other users to be angry in the long run (Liu, 2011), and this makes them negative in the long run.
The stereotype has been contributed by social forces, which often make people desire to communicate and share different ideas and information with others. The economic force that is clearly indicated by the stereotype is their cheap nature, as members can easily afford to use the site without any problem.

Rituals have also become common in the world today, and this has come into existence due to their past existence. Popular art has had different exhibitions of rituals as the idea of popular music is increasingly being used and applied by different people. In the music world, my favorite music is country and rap music, which has often been seen as sung by individuals who are classified as backwoods hillbillies or the idea that almost all rap music leads violence, is a form of the stereotype that is known by most generations (Mukerji, 2009).

Such differences and stereotype have led to a culture clash that views the listening of country music may diminish the black nature of the listeners. This is commonly found among African Americans or blacks who reside in the US. The idea that there is some music that cannot be listened to by other people due to culture or race is a negative form of stereotypes because they place all the group under one common understanding. Stereotypes are known to have the generalities of life, which are put to a certain point that is fine concerning a particular subject matter. Ordinarily, they are often made to concern a particular people’s behavior (Gottlieb, 2010). Such forms of stereotypes are negative and form part of the social forces that often find fault in places where other individuals enjoy.

Marketing and Advertising
Society has fully accepted the idea that female marketers and advertisers are well placed when organizations desire to increase their revenues in the long run. Such stereotypes have made it hard for the male marketers to work freely because of the notion that has been set in advertising and marketing. Females are often seen as people who can lead to increased sales due to the gender sensitivity that is always found in such provisions.

The affinity has been leveraged through education and training that is always provided to both men and women before they venture into the field of sales and marketing. Females similar to their male counterparts are currently being given similar products and services to sell to their clients without considering their gender. The top notch training that is always provided helps individuals in increasing their sales and operating as a unit.

Conclusion
Stereotypes and rituals are present today as they were in the past. The concepts are known to be part of the popular culture that has made people make changes in how they view different aspects of life and individuals. Whether bad or good such stereotypes and rituals will stay for longer periods within the society and world at large.

References
Gottlieb, J., Docker, J., & McRobbie, A. (2010). Postmodernism and Popular Culture. Contemporary Sociology (Vol. 25, p. 16).
Liu, K. (2011). Popular culture and the culture of the masses in contemporary China. Boundary 2, 24(3), 99-122.
Lopes, P. (2006). Culture and stigma: Popular culture and the case of comic books. Sociological Forum, 21(3), 387-414.
Mukerji, C., & Schudson, M. (2009). Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies. Rethinking Popular Culture Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies (p. vii, 501 p.).
Romanoff, B. D., & Terenzio, M. (2008). Rituals and the grieving process. Death studies, 22, 697-711.

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