I think the author overreaches when he says popular culture can't change politics. Simply put every period of time reflects the prevalent culture or subculture brewing within. The 80s sheen and greed reflected by both the 80s teen pop and punk of the day. The 70s drug addled, over-the-top culture where more is more coinciding with the heyday or glam, disco, and AM-pop. Pop culture is in general just a reflection of society at large. In a way to be ignorant of that is to believe that when McDonald's, rock, and YouTube are introduced into China no amount of political/social change has occured because of it.
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