Copy from the cover of 3E: Pop culture surrounds us. Its products are the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and the books we read; they are on our televisions, phones, and computers. We are its fickle friend, loving to hate it and hating to love it. But what, exactly, is it? Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives tackles that question by exploring our human desire for meaning and the ways that popular culture embodies meaning. In this core text, Marcel Danesi delves into the social structures that have led to the emergence and spread of pop culture, showing how it validates our common experiences and offering a variety of perspectives on its many modes of delivery into our everyday lives. The third edition features two new chapters: one on the commercial context of pop culture, and another explicitly considering digital culture. New exercises and discussion prompts serve to deepen understanding, while updated examples connect with the current generation of students. Features for the 4E: -The most accessible popular culture textbook on the market -Helpfully organized by technology and medium -Broadens the historical background on pop culture from medieval performances and texts (minstrels, ballads), to the role of opera and carnivals and circuses to our present media rich culture. -adds new sections on nature of popularity and a new section on nano-celebrities -enhanced illustration program -enhanced ancillaries online