Popular Culture as Everyday Life

"Ultimately, this is a very rewarding text, and one that this reader will be coming back to many times." --Will Gibson, University College London, in Symbolic Interaction "Relevant for multiple disciplines, Popular Culture as Everyday Life offers readers a unique (and even experimental) perspective on popular culture that at times reads like a diary, at other times like a history lesson, and at still other times promises to be a time capsule or snapshot representing popular culture as it currently exists in the early twenty-first century. Whether they are embracing the culture, resisting the culture, or merely co-existing with the culture, the authors in this volume collectively document and examine the place, function, meaning, and value that the culture in question has in their everyday lives." -- Carol Rambo, University of Memphis "Peter Berger argued that the most important thing you can know about someone is what they take for granted, and these days, it is largely about popular culture. The gripping essays show the richness of "the mundane doings of people and their ways of life" in constructing social and moral orders, even as they celebrate the profoundly trivial. The chapters will motivate students to do their own investigations of everyday life." -- David Altheide, Arizona State University "Popular Culture as Everyday Life celebrates how daily commonplaces can become rich subjects for deep sociological insights. The diverse chapters reveal the mundane doings of people to be anything but. A must read for anyone who has ever slept, gotten dressed, drank coffee, put on makeup, gone to the bathroom, has never smoked or kicked ass, has watched television, or has had sex." --Eugene Halton, University of Notre Dame

Phillip Vannini is Canada Research Chair in Public Ethnography and Professor of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University. He is the author of five books and editor of seven, as well as the editor of two book series, including Interactionist Currents (Ashgate). All of his scholarship deals with cultural and everyday life issues. Several of his journal articles and chapters for edited books have also dealt with popular culture and everyday life issues, such as research studies on camping, eating, drinking, travelling, building, consuming, body modification, experiencing the weather, and more. Dennis D. Waskul is a Professor of Sociology and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has authored or edited six books and is editor of the book series Interactionist Currents (Ashgate). He has published many empirical studies, including various investigations of the use of new media technologies for sexual purposes, sensual sociology, and the intersections of fantasy and lived experience. Dennis serves on the editorial board for multiple journals, including Sexualities and Qualitative Sociology.

Foreword Introduction: Popular Culture as Everyday Life Phillip Vannini and Dennis D. Waskul Essays on the Daily Life of Popular Culture 1. Watching Television Thomas Conroy 2. Watching Reality Television Tony E. Adams 3. Watching Drug Commercials Charles Edgley 4. Using Mobile Phones Christopher J. Schneider 5. Sharing and Waiting on Facebook Staci Newmahr 6. Reading Michael Schwalbe 7. Making Video Phillip Vannini 8. Sharing Selfies Uschi Klein 9. Playing Music Simon Gottschalk 10. Seeing Live Music Emily M. Boyd 11. Playing Games is (Not Always) Fun J. Patrick Williams 12. Sleeping Carolyn Ellis 13. Having Sex Beth Montemurro 14. Going to the Bathroom Dennis D. Waskul 15. Getting Dressed John C. Pruit 16. Putting on Makeup Rebecca F. Plante 17. Drinking Coffee Pernille S. Stroeback 18. Exercising Michael Atkinson 19. Kicking Ass Dale C. Spencer 20. Watching the Super Bowl Bernard D. Glowinski and Joseph A. Kotarba 21. Home-Making Karen McCormack 22. Having Pets Leslie Irvine 23. On Not Driving Sherryl Kleinman 24. Snow-Gazing David Redmon 25. Shopping Keith Berry 26. Trick-or-Treating William Ryan Force 27. Staying in Hotels Orvar Lfgren 28. (Not) Smoking Justin A. Martin 29. Consuming Craft Michael Ian Borer