Folk
Related: folklore - folk music - popular culture - people - tradition
Definition
The common people of a society or region considered as the representatives of a traditional way of life and especially as the originators or carriers of the customs, beliefs, and arts that make up a distinctive culture: a leader who came from the folk. --AHDFolk culture
Folk culture refers to the localized lifestyle of a subsistence or otherwise inward looking culture. It is usually handed down through oral tradition and a strong sense of community, and values the "old ways" over novelty. Finally, folk culture is quite often imbued with a sense of place. If its elements are copied by, or removed to, a foreign locale, they will still carry strong connotations of their original place of creation.
[F]olk culture has always informed pop culture and even high culture. The minuet and other stately dances of European court society were based on the dances of peasants. Similarly, the European courtly rage for pastoral romance was based on an idealized vision of shepherd's lives. More recently, the consciously self-centered culture of the Amish has been portrayed for comic value in Hollywood films and big media reality shows, and the archetypal costume of the cowboy has been reinvented in gleaming silver for disco dancers and strippers. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_culture [Oct 2005]
See also: folk - culture theory
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