The Influence of Popular Culture on Individuals’ Choice of Professions

A number of factors contribute to the way in which individuals come to an understanding of what the popular culture is. Popular culture can also be defined as cultural patterns that are widely spread and accepted within a population. The popular culture is interpreted by people based on information from various forms such as media, music, and movies. More specifically, the popular culture is shaped by reflecting and reifying conventions of social discourses such as gender, values, and sexuality, generating influences on lives of youth and students in the society. For example, people receive information from a variety of sources, based on which they tend to make choices and judgments.

Amy McNeilage‘s (14 September 2013) article titled “The nerd factor blamed for drop in IT hopefuls” reveals the influence of popular culture on individuals in the context of education. It shows that students’ choice of the field of studying is greatly affected by what they interpret as the popular culture. Computer science is a field with an ever increasing demand due to the rapid development of technology. However, in NSW, IT related subjects are experiencing a rapid drop in the student enrollments, which will potentially result in an insufficient supply of IT graduates, therefore leading to a significant shortage of workers. This trend, as claimed in the article, could be attributed to the negative image of IT workers created by the media, as well as the conventional belief that discourages females from entering “masculine professions”.

The image of IT workers of being nerdy, socially awkward and unpopular is received by students as part of the popular culture. Similarly, arts students are associated with unemployment in social media. On the contrary, professions such as lawyers have an image depicted as smart, wealthy and well respected. Such information is received by youths as part of the popular culture, causing biased and prejudicial perceptions on different professions.

On the other hand, there is a prevailing idea that some professions are purely masculine or feminine. For example, such professions as scientist, engineer, and policeman are seen as more typical for men rather than women. Instead, teacher, nurse, secretary are conventionally seen as more suitable for women. It is suggested that by encouraging women into the male-dominated IT sector, the shortage in supply could be mitigated.

Speaking from my personal experience, I agree with the two points raised in the news article. The above two factors played an important role when I was deciding between science and arts in high school. I was hesitant about taking science subjects although I really wanted to. Part of the reason was because I did not want to become a typical “science nerd”. Besides, most of my girl friends decided to take arts subjects, and they believed that arts subjects were more suitable for girls and thought it was a more conventional choice. Although I chose science in the end, the great influence that the popular culture had on the choices of my schooling.

Reference

McNeilage, A. (2013, September 14). The nerd factor blamed for drop in IT hopefuls. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from  http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/the-nerd-factor-blamed-for-drop-in-it-hopefuls-20130913-2tq5m.html