Critical Research On Current Mass Culture In China

As a historical form of culture, mass culture was first born in the Western society with the industrialization and urbanization. In the last two decades of 20th century ,with the liberation of thought and the reform and opening-up, mass culture of China was born and developed rapidly. Nowadays mass culture was spreading to almost every corner in China. It became one of the three trunk cultural forms, contrasting with the rest—mainstream culture and elite Culture.It is necessary to construct our own researchful nomenclatures in order to understanding mass culture in China. These will directly connected with the normal development of mass culture, configuration change and promotion of cultural and ideological progression. The author forms a relative systematic and regional construction, which based on the research of Frankfurt School and Birmingham School and so on. From the longitudinal view, the development of mass culture in China can be divided into two parts-the initiation in 1980's and the growth in 1990's. On the other hand, comparing with the western mass culture, the development of mass culture in China is insufficient. Mass culture has a positive effect in flourishing the market by supplying pluralism cultural products, developing new educating channels and promoting cultural industry. Meanwhile, it was crowding out mainstream culture and elite culture seriously, which leading to the desalting of the education function and the loss of the sublime humanistic ideal. And it sharpened the individual character and autonomy of cultural creation. Based on the research of the humanistic custom and the cultural policy, the author argues that mass culture in China should change into the socialism mass culture, which has Chinese characters and little reverse effect. The performance and guidance of mass culture is the prerequisite of realizing the historical conversion, such as forming a optimal circulating system that including mass culture together with mainstream culture and elite culture; strengthening the sense of historical mission and humanistic responsibility of the persons who work on it; completing the laws and regulations and so on.