Popular culture is as debated as it is pervasive. It is pervasive in that the symbolic worlds in which we live and out of which we construct sense are in many different ways, understood as and within popular culture. It is debated that it has been polarized as a negative or positive counterpart to other dimensions of cultural activity.

In Popular Culture, a four-volume text, volume one establishes the historical dimension necessary for the study of popular culture. The second and third volumes are devoted to the different theoretical perspectives and analytical approaches to popular culture. The final volume concentrates on the questions and issues involved in the aesthetics and ethics of popular culture and their relation to the quality of public life.