Excorporation is the process through which mass cultural commodities are changed or remade into one’s own culture. The theory of Excorporation was popularized by sociologist John Fiske, in order to explain the ongoing struggle between the dominant and subordinate groups in popular culture. Definition The term excorporation was highlighted by sociologist John Fiske in his 1989 book, Understanding Popular Culture. Fiske states that excorporation is “the process by which the subordinate make their own culture out of the resources and commodities provided by the dominant system”. Fiske believes this idea to be central to the study of popular culture. He argues that in an industrialized world, the subordinated group has only the use of resources supplied to them by the dominant group from which to create their own subcultures and social commodities. In his theory, Fiske refutes the idea of folk culture, any sort of ‘authentic’ culture, saying that it does not exist in such a society. In other words, the subordinate deals with what is available. This requires the study of popular culture to not only look at the various cultural commodities, but the ways in which the individual uses them as well. Fiske sees the different uses of commodities to be most interesting. The excorporation of resources is generally more varied and creative than the original. Fiske states that the subordinate’s ability to create originality and thus oppose the dominant “results in the producers having to resort to the processes of incorporation or containment”. By reincorporating the differences made by excorporation, the dominant group strips the subordinate group from any opposition that the latter may have created. This ensures the stability of the dominant system. Criticism Several sociological authors have criticized Fiske's theory of excorporation, primarily for its overarching simplicity and its unfocused basis. Deborah Cook, in her 1992 article "Ruses de Guerre: Baudrillard and Fiske on Media Reception" argues that excorporation is not necessarily a political or even meaningful activity, as Fiske claims. Under Fiske’s theory, the process of excorporating creates meaning, be it as simple as personalizing a commercial commodity. However, Cook argues that Fiske attempts "to locate resistance in a set of largely unconscious, unfocused, and apolitical activities...Fiske's analyses are undisciplined by any interpretive methods," therefore implying that not every act of excorporation necessarily contains meaning. Ray Browne, of Bowling Green University, agrees with Cook's assertion, explaining that Fiske "looks upon popular culture as a