Scholars cannot agree on the nature of "popular culture," but they do seem to know its sources.
They point, for example, to a demographic bulge toward the end of the 17th century that restored Europe's population to the high levels of 1348-the year of the Black Death. This emergence of a new mass audience coincided with the first industrial revo- lution; cheaper printing and increased literacy soon helped nur-
The WilsonQuarterlyISummer 1978
87
POP CULTURE
ture the rise of popular...