Mass culture and mass society 5The mass culture debate 10Mass culture and Americanisation 19Americanisation and the critique of mass culture theoryA critique of mass culture theory 34THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF popular culture in the modern era can be charted by the way it has been identified with mass culture. The coming of the mass media and the increasing commercialisation of culture and leisure gave rise to issues, interests and debates which are still with us today. The growth of the idea of mass culture, very evident from the 1920s and 1930s onwards, is one of the historical sources of the themes and perspectives on popular culture which this book discusses.