Final answer:
Mass culture is a broad culture shaped by widespread mass media and contains the most popular societal norms, while popular culture includes mainstream cultural experiences and attitudes accessible to most people. Over time, these cultural forms can evolve and blur, but mass culture has diminished with the advent of diverse media leading to the rise of minority cultures.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mass culture and popular culture are terms often used interchangeably, but they have their distinctions. Mass culture refers to the shared experiences and values spread across a society through mass media, which became prevalent with the advent of newspapers, radio, and television. It encompasses the most popular views, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors within a society, answering such questions as where people get their political information, what movies they watch, or where they buy their clothes. Mass culture is broadly accessible and was once the dominant form of culture when media options were few.
Popular culture similarly deals with patterns of cultural experiences that are prevalent in mainstream society. It is also widely accessible and includes events, music, and entertainment - like parades, sports games, or the season finale of a popular TV show - that are broadcasted and shared via commercial and social media. Over time, what might be considered high culture can shift into popular culture; for example, Shakespeare's works, once popular entertainment, are now seen as high culture.
Today, however, with more media outlets and diversity in content, mass culture is said to be diminishing, giving rise to minority cultures and more varied political cultures. With the rise of social media and more tailored content, people increasingly participate in cultural subsets, allowing for minority or subcultures to flourish. This fragmentation indicates a shift from a unified mass culture to more personalized cultural experiences for different groups within the larger society.