Yes, the range is vast of course. I think popular culture is often treated as less important and valuable than the more sophisticated offerings partly because its materials are commonly less profound and (almost by definition) evanescent, but also just because they are less demanding - I think we naturally tend to value more highly those things which cost us time and energy. Of course it's also worth remembering that the division between 'popular' and 'high' culture is not at all sharp or clear, which is surely connected with the blurring of distinctions between social classes (and the educated/uneducated). I suspect that the distinction may come to be be based largely on literacy, which seems to be dying out, so that anything which requires sustained reading will no longer be part of 'popular' culture. I don't know where we are right now (e.g.where do the Harry Potter novels stand? or books by Roddy Doyle?). I can't think of a great deal to say about how to study it - I'm sceptical about the value of the internet in the study of almost anything, since it generally seems to offer little but bullet points and summaries (though it can be useful for references); however, probably I'm just showing my age... Good luck! G.

studying popular culture

A quick reply to keep us going. I'd take 'popular culture' to refer to activities and artefacts
produced primarily for entertainment (or in some cases usefulness - e.g.pottery), and which are relatively undemanding in respect of the intellectual (as opposed to sensory and emotional) capacites required. They can therefore be engaged in and appreciated by most people, not just the sophisticated or highly educated.
Although the materials of popular culture may not offer all that much by way of enlightenment, insight, etc. in themselves, they may be highly significant in and for their socio-cultural context, and they may of course be studied historically, sociologically, psychologically, etc. The development of the Blues, for example, can hardly be understood without reference to the Great Depression of the '30s in America, life on cotton plantations in the southern states, etc.; and I think it would be impossible to understand the life of young people in Britain and the U.S. in and around the 1960s without reference to the influence of rock music and those who made it. And it's not just music - many kinds of folk-art, craft , etc.could be revealing.
It's probably along these lines that popular culture might best be studied, and that students may have most to gain from it. In teaching one should be selective, with an in-depth examination of particular examples in context. I wish you the best of luck with it - let me know what you decide to do.

What is the value in studying popular culture?

So, Dad, I thought I'd make this first post a question for you. I'm preparing to teach a class on Popular Culture in the Fall semester (how north american I sound these days) and one of the first things I want to discuss with the students is what exactly is the value in what we are doing. What do you think? Do you think it's a significant and worthwhile topic of study? What does popular culture mean to you? What do you think students might learn from its study?