Carys Nelkon, Acting Co-CEO, Arts Emergency, said: “Orian’s research was very important in helping us identify the areas where we wanted to expand to. It helped us identify that we wanted to expand into Merseyside, which has been really successful, and now Brighton. The next area we are looking at is Leeds and Bradford. In this extract, they share their interview with ‘Henna’, an aspiring creative, and introduce some of the book’s findings: Mindfulness means being aware of how much time we spend consuming pop culture and examining its effects on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If we get into the habit of questioning the intentions behind various media sources, we can appreciate the art while maintaining a healthy skepticism about potentially harmful content.

On the positive side, pop culture can provide opportunities for self-expression and identification with like-minded people. It can provide a platform to explore one’s interests and passions, interact with like-minded people, and find a sense of belonging. Pop culture can also inspire creativity and imagination and be a source of inspiration for people in various fields, such as art, fashion, and music. In addition, pop culture can perpetuate stereotypes and reinforce social norms, which can contribute to prejudice and discrimination. Pop culture can shape our expectations of others by constantly presenting us with specific images and messages, leading to strained relationships and misunderstandings. The Fix: It’s time to double down on your company culture strategy. To do that, however, you need to understand the root of the problem. Probe employees during exit interviews on their reasons for leaving. Try to understand what it was about your culture that frustrated them and which aspects they found difficult to part with. 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.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." I triangulated all that data – pupils on free school meals, their attainment levels and the proportion going on to higher education, and creative work – and mapped that against universities to help them identify where would be good places to focus their efforts and try to expand. It was never going to be a hard and fast you must go here; more a suggestion of areas that may be more fertile ground.” In addition, technology has facilitated the spread of false information and misinformation through pop culture content. This can have a detrimental effect on critical thinking and the ability to distinguish fact from fiction. People are likelier to believe false information when presented in a pop culture context.

As Raymond Williams long ago argued, culture is all around us, and it is ordinary. Brook, O'Brien and Taylor show us that ordinary culture is bad for us. It is bad for us as workers, as consumers, and as a society. This excellent book will be the go-to source on the extraordinary inequality in the creation and consumption of ordinary media for a long time to come.' 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.' Another negative impact of technology is its homogenizing effect on individual identity. The widespread availability of pop culture content can make individuals feel pressured to conform to specific trends and styles, which can lead to a loss of individuality. While pop culture can be a unifying force, it’s important to recognize its potential negative impact on social relationships and communication. By being aware of these consequences and balancing pop culture enjoyment with meaningful relationships, we can better manage the complexity of our modern social landscape. Balancing Pop Culture Consumption With Personal Growth In addition, as pop culture becomes more influential in the digital world, it can contribute to feelings of social isolation. As we spend more time-consuming pop culture online, we may prefer virtual interactions to face-to-face communication, weakening our interpersonal skills and making it harder to build healthy relationships.The issue of risk in the film industry is reflected in other cultural occupations. We may know a great deal about audience tastes, but we can never really be sure of what will be a hit. It is hard to be sure if investment in developing a new artist, a new musician, a new play, or a new novel, will pay off. In addition, the increasing influence of pop culture in the digital world can contribute to feelings of social isolation. The more people follow and consume pop culture online, the more they may prefer virtual interactions to face-to-face communication. This can lead to weakened interpersonal skills and diminished empathy, making it challenging to maintain healthy relationships.

One crucial aspect that drives our love of pop culture is the nostalgia effect – as humans, we’re naturally drawn to remember simpler times when life was less complicated. In the quest for freedom and personal fulfillment, it’s essential to understand the potential consequences of our engagement in popular culture. If we recognize the risks associated with excessive consumption or unhealthy habits related to pop culture, we can enjoy it and maintain control over our well-being. The Impact On Social Relationships And Communication The Problem: Healthy competition is good for business. It motivates employees and encourages stellar performance, which can help grow your company. However, having competition as the focal point of your culture will breed animosity between employees. N1 - Maggie Cronin is an actress, playwright and director currently undertaking a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast. Recent professional work includes the short film Gravest Hit (2021). She is the author of The Headcount (2021) report into gender breakdown at eight core funded theatre companies in Northern Ireland for Waking the Feminists NI.

Arts Emergency worked in London but aspired to expand its operations geographically. Dr Brook used data on schools in areas of social deprivation, with a high proportion of pupils claiming free school meals, mapping this against concentrations of people working in creative and cultural industries who could be approached to become mentors. The final piece of the puzzle was ensuring proximity to a university offering degrees in creative disciplines. A cornerstone of Arts Emergency’s work has been encouraging young people to access creative and humanities education. The Janus-faced character of culture lies at the core of this wonderful new text. The big and diverse world of culture and entertainment brings joy, health, connection and catharsis to billions, but often at the expense of the talented few who labour to produce it. Culture is bad for you is a sweeping, empirical investigation of what it takes to "make it" as a British culture producer, but also of the forces that "break it": unequal access for people with fewer resources. Essential reading for citizens, policy makers, employers, artists and fans - and for those who study them.' Dave O’Brienis Chancellor’s Fellow in Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Edinburgh. He has published extensively on sociology of culture and cultural policy, and is currently part of a large scale AHRC project assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural sector in the UK.

For academics, Culture is Bad For You points towards interesting discussions around autonomy, cultural consumption surveys and cultural institutions. 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. 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 Problem: High turnover is almost always a guaranteed sign of a toxic company culture. Not only will a bad culture drive employees away, it will also deter job seekers from taking your organization seriously; more than 30 percent of workers say they left a job in the first 90 days because “company culture was not as expected” and 20 percent reported switching industries because of a “toxic work environment/culture.” If you’re saying goodbye to employees left and right, they’re probably looking for a less toxic work culture. 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.

Panic! report

A lot of the kinds of policy interventions that would be most effective in confronting inequalities in the cultural sector are broader than the sector itself. A simple example is formally regulating (and almost certainly banning) unpaid internships: the consequences of unpaid internships are particularly visible in cultural work, but it’s just as important for think tanks and the policy research environment more broadly. While pop culture can bring us together, it’s essential to be aware of its potential adverse effects. By finding a balance between enjoying the pop culture and having meaningful conversations, we can build strong relationships and improve our communication skills. Consumerism And Materialism In Pop Culture 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.