Art and culture are supposed to bring society together. Culture is bad for you challenges the received wisdom that culture is good for us. It does this by demonstrating who makes who and consumes culture are marked by significant inequalities and social divisions. The Fix: Praise in public, correct in private, and present the error as an opportunity to learn and grow. A healthy work environment allows employees to learn from their mistakes without shame.

Henna tells us some of our reasons why we’ve written this book, and why we’ve given it the provocative title of Culture is bad for you. She gives us the starting point for why we should question some of the ‘good news’ about culture. N2 - In Culture is Bad for You: Inequality in the Cultural and Creative Industries (Manchester University Press, 2020), authors Orian Brook, Dave O’Brien and Mark Taylor cut through a Gordian Knot of interconnected and complex factors that create and maintain multiple inequalities within the UK Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). Exhaustive research in micro and macro detail is presented over eleven chapters, drawn from a wide range of sources. This includes previous research projects that the core group of authors and others have produced including Panic! (2018), statistical evidence, surveys and longitudinal data. It also includes qualitative data in the form of extensive interviews with cultural and creative industry workers. The result is as much a manifesto for change as well as a valuable addition to scholarship countering the ‘celebratory discourse’ in relation to the CCIs over the past 25 years. In this way, pop culture reflects society’s collective desires, dreams, and aspirations, offering us an escape from everyday life by unconsciously giving us a taste of freedom. The Influence Of Pop Culture On Individual Choices Another problem is that pop culture can perpetuate stereotypes and reinforce social norms, leading to prejudice and discrimination. The images and messages we see in pop culture can shape our expectations of others and make effective communication difficult, which can strain our relationships. Pop culture has a major impact on our social relationships, communication, and consumption habits. With increased media exposure, many people have developed a desire to keep up with the latest trends, gadgets, and possessions, often leading to financial stress and dissatisfaction.

References and further reading

This wasn’t all that Henna told us. She told us her gender, and the colour of her skin, were given less value than those of her white, male colleagues. This was despite the claims by parts of the film industry, and by government policy, that film is open to any and all who are talented.

Seek out educational entertainment: Not all movies, TV shows, books, and games are created equal when it comes to their potential for fostering personal development. Actively seek out content that challenges your thinking, inspires creativity, or teaches something new. The Fix: Lead by example and hold everyone accountable. Core values are important to your culture and your success as an organization, so ensure they are upheld by every member of your team. Holding all employees to the same set of standards will foster an open culture based on equality. This will also help promote your core values across all departments so they become ingrained in your culture. Vital reading for anyone working in culture and interested in equality - this book gives us the reasons to make change, the actions are up to us. Take action.' I think it's very difficult. It's about asking people to be more reflective about various aspects of the conditions in creative organisations such as the work/life balance and so on. There’s this expectation that people who work in the arts do it for love but we all need to pay the rent and eat. There are only certain groups of people who can afford to say it's not about the money. I’d like to see greater recognition of that and an understanding that people still need to be paid even if they love what they're doing This emotional connection fuels our passion for reliving those moments in songs, movies, and other cultural artifacts.Pop culture doesn’t have to be all about escapism and empty distractions. It can also provide valuable opportunities for personal growth if we approach it with intentionality and balance. The UK film industry is not a meritocracy at all. It doesn’t matter if you’re intelligent or well-qualified or any of those things. What matters is who you know and who you’ve worked with. It’s also massively to do with being a woman of colour… They would much rather hire the white dude, and they feel more comfortable with the white dude, than the bolshy brown woman who seems to have done things that they don’t feel comfortable with. Of course. That’s just the reality of it.” As we strive to balance the enjoyment of pop culture and personal development, developing skills for critical consumption and mindful use of the media surrounding us is essential. The Problem: If you only recognize the top sales rep of each quarter, you’re doing your culture a disservice. Only occasionally rewarding a few individuals will make the majority of the workforce feel undervalued and underappreciated. It can also lead to a negative workplace culture founded on competition and animosity between employees.

The book stresses the need to understand inequality in an intersectional way. It focuses on how race, class, and gender interrelate, privileging some whilst punishing others. For women of colour who are socially mobile, the experience of cultural occupations and cultural institutions is of an often hostile environment. For white, middle class origin men, the experience is of a smoother rise to the top of organisations, institutions, and art forms. It’s essential to recognize the pitfalls of our society today, including the constraints imposed on us by the influence of mass media. In this way, we can strive for greater freedom and find meaningful ways to live our lives beyond the materialistic obsessions promoted by popular culture. The Role Of Pop Culture In Shaping Values And Beliefs The role of technology in the proliferation of popular culture has undoubtedly changed how we consume and interact with popular media. While technology has facilitated access to and dissemination of pop culture content, it has also negatively affected individuals and society. Balance is the key to enjoying the pop culture and minimizing its adverse effects. By engaging with the elements of pop culture that appeal to us and being careful not to let them determine all aspects of our choices and identity, we can find ways to engage with pop culture without sacrificing our critical thinking skills or sense of personal freedom. For academics, Culture is Bad For You points towards interesting discussions around autonomy, cultural consumption surveys and cultural institutions.

Fixing a Toxic Company Culture

Pop culture is something that many of us enjoy. It provides a shared space to connect with others and has lively discussions. However, it can also hurt our social relationships and communication. While pop culture provides a common ground for people to connect and converse, it can also negatively affect social relationships and communication. One of the main problems is the superficiality it can foster. Because pop culture often emphasizes fleeting trends and entertaining distractions, it can lead to superficial conversations that limit the scope for deeper, more meaningful discussions. This, in turn, can hinder the development of solid and lasting relationships with others. The expectation of unpaid labour is now endemic to the cultural sector. It is experienced differently according to social class: for those from middle class origins, with the most economic, social, and cultural resources, unpaid work is an investment in their career. It might mean a show at the Fringe, an internship at a prestigious publishing house, or working for free on their first short film; For those from working class origins, unpaid work is experienced as exploitation, as dead-end opportunities that most often lead nowhere.

The Fix: If you see that individuals are highly competitive with one another, you may be placing too much value on performance. Of course you want your team to be full of top performers, but you also want your team to be full, period. Pitting individuals against each other will frustrate employees and undermine their value as individuals.

AB - In Culture is Bad for You: Inequality in the Cultural and Creative Industries (Manchester University Press, 2020), authors Orian Brook, Dave O’Brien and Mark Taylor cut through a Gordian Knot of interconnected and complex factors that create and maintain multiple inequalities within the UK Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). Exhaustive research in micro and macro detail is presented over eleven chapters, drawn from a wide range of sources. This includes previous research projects that the core group of authors and others have produced including Panic! (2018), statistical evidence, surveys and longitudinal data. It also includes qualitative data in the form of extensive interviews with cultural and creative industry workers. The result is as much a manifesto for change as well as a valuable addition to scholarship countering the ‘celebratory discourse’ in relation to the CCIs over the past 25 years. I think that’s really interesting,” says Dr Brook. “It's obviously academic research but it's then being taken on and interpreted by young people thinking about their own careers. It's quite practical from that point of view and hopefully will reach a broader audience in terms of their peers and the people that are working with them." The Problem: Employees look to managers for direction. If senior and middle management aren’t abiding by the core values you’ve set forth, employees will follow suit. Even worse, they’ll begin to distrust leadership for exempting managers from the office rules. Authority will be discredited, and a clear divide will form between leadership and the staff. Dr Brook co-authored both the initial report, Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries, and the 2020 book – Culture is Bad for You.