Dwight Macdonald in his book, “Masscult and Midcult.” Macdonald distinguishes between midcult which he referred to it as “middle brow” while masscult is labeling it as the “lowbrow”. He went ahead and described the different characteristics of both forms of culture in united states of America contrasting them with what was referred as culture and what is known as a high culture in the modern world (Macdonald, Dwight). According to MacDonald’s, a mass culture is a form of mass society which was brought about by factors such as technological innovations, enhanced literature rates and industrialization that improved the means of communication. He believed that the purchasing power of the average citizen's increases, the taste will automatically become democratized (Macdonald, Dwight).
Macdonald, in his book, readily uses terms such as that Masscult should be regarded as something different as it is not just unsuccessful art, it is non -art and even concluded that it is anti-art. MacDonald’s criticizes the mass culture as he does not feel that it has the same nature as the high culture that is produced for the same audience and as results accepting the same standards. He further mentions that masscult is subjected to a spectator since it does not offer enthusiasm and charismatic performance instead it gives a performance whose primary aim is not entertainment (Macdonald, Dwight).
MacDonald’s concludes by saying that popular culture is a term that does provide meaning in the contemporary since he believes that everybody has an idea that whatever is being disliked and disseminated should be known as popular culture. MacDonald’s also mentioned that he believes there are a total of four cultures namely popular, mass, elite and folk. He argues that none was strong enough to stand on its own as they are a discrete unity which is entirely unaffected by others (Macdonald, Dwight).
