This paper unfolds theoretical approaches representative in the debate on the concept of popular culture. They are analysed in their relationship to mass culture and consumption. This is a theoretical-conceptual review split in four sections: the hypothesis of “cultural circularity” according to gramsci, ginzburg, bakhtin and thompson; the concept of working class from Bordieu’s theory of reproduction and stuart hall’s theory of a cultural dialectics; the relationship mass culture and cultural industry, according to eco, hoggard and sarlo, and the problem of production and consumption with de certeau. Finally, the distinction between high art and mass culture (huyssen), the concept of hybridation and the relationship between popular culture and new cultural technologies (garcia) is presented. The main contribution is the elucidation of relationships between popular culture, urban culture and mass culture, as well as the acknowledgement of several epistemological problems linked to generalizations in the use of these concepts