What are the differences and connections between popular culture and mainstream culture?

In my opinion, pop culture is a novel and emerging cultural element, such as rock music, fashion clothes and so on;

Mainstream culture is traditional culture, that is, a national culture that embodies national characteristics and features, and it is the overall representation of various ideological cultures and ideological forms in national history.

The mainstream culture (that is, traditional culture) has experienced a long history of washing and accumulation, so the essence is more than the dross; It prefers spiritual civilization.

Popular culture has not experienced such a historical test, so it contains a lot of dross culture that should be spurned; It is more inclined to material civilization.

I think this is their biggest difference.

Of course, pop culture can't come out of thin air, it must be developed on the basis of mainstream culture; It must be closely related to the mainstream culture. In a sense, modern mass culture is the inevitable product of the development of capitalism, the product of freedom and the product of civilization progress.

Therefore, although popular culture is only an extension of traditional culture and contains a lot of dross, it can be said that it is one of the main manifestations of human thought soaring and institutional progress.