Encyclopedia

This entry, which identifies nine paradoxes particular to popular culture in a digital society, begins by distinguishing art and culture, since scholars have historically relied on these terms to differentiate popular culture, mass culture, and mass art. Digital societies, which exist both online and offline, are awash in digital products such as LED signs, digital imagery, video games, film, podcasts, and social media. In a digital society, popular culture is effectively “mass art,” which exhibits five properties: (1) digital media’s low-cost products and low-skill tools are (2) created and distributed to appeal to as broad a cultural sector as possible (qualitative) and thus aim to (3) attract consumers (quantitative) who capably enjoy and deploy cultural content both (4) offline and online, yet “popularity” ultimately depends on (5) efforts to maximize unity and minimize fragmentation. Except for localized events, popular culture has largely disappeared, while mass art will likely flourish until human beings clamor once again for firsthand experiences or go extinct. The next frontier will be finding ways to prevent artificial intelligence from producing cultural products, not because they will be terrible, undesirable, or fake, but because the culture-making process itself engenders human wellbeing.

Information cascades refer to a type of learning behavior in social networks where individuals make decisions by observing the actions of others, rather than relying solely on their own private information. Network centrality, which measures the relative importance or influence of a node within a network, plays a significant role in initiating and shaping information cascades across four key dimensions. First, nodes with high degree centrality often initiate information cascades due to their large number of direct connections to other nodes. Second, nodes with high betweenness centrality serve as bridges between different parts of the network, thereby controlling the flow of cascading information. Third, nodes with high closeness centrality can access and disseminate information more quickly, accelerating the spread of cascades throughout the network. Fourth, nodes with high eigenvector centrality augment the impact of information cascades through their visibility and connections to other influential nodes. Synthesizing research findings on executive and director networks from management, finance, and accounting, this entry provides insights into emerging trends in corporate governance by highlighting the interaction between network structure and information dissemination.

Stress in the workplace has been recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global health epidemic. Research examining the most stressful industries to work in the UK consistently ranks education among the highest groups, encompassing early years practitioners to higher education academics. One of the most commonly reported contributory factors is poor work–life balance, with high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation—key components of burnout—endemic. Related research has highlighted unprecedented mental health difficulties among children and young people; while many educators feel ill-equipped to manage the levels of mental distress they encounter in the classroom and playground on a daily basis, contributing to their own diminished wellbeing. The current author posits that at the heart of a well-functioning learning environment is the holistic wellbeing of every member of the education community. This paper brings together evidence from across different levels of education to expose systemic failures to address work-related stressors, highlighting gaps in effective support mechanisms to meet the needs of both learners and educators. Philosophical questions concerning professional identities and the function of a contemporary education system with mental health on its agenda are considered. Finally, recommendations are put forward to help tackle the current crisis and curb the exodus of professionals from across the sector.