How do folk and popular cultures differ in the ways they help form a society’s overall culture?

Folk culture and popular culture differ in their patterns of origins,distribution and diffusion. Folk culture is practiced by small homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas while Popular culture is found in large heterogeneous societies that share certain customs despite differences in other personal characteristics among them.

Explanation:

In terms of the way they are both different from each other, we can explain under the patterns listed i.e origin, distribution and diffusion.

Origin: Customs originate from hearths. Folk customs are often anonymous while popular customs originate in more developed countries as part of the market for recreational and disposable income to purchase these material goods.

Distribution :Popular culture is distributed widely across many countries, with little regard for physical factors while Folk cultures often (though not always) incorporate elements of the local environment of wherever it is being noticed. Groups with relatively little contact with others develop unique folk cultures. Thus, people living in some remote environments tend to have a specific culture related to their environment and quite different from other geographical locations practicing same named culture.  

Diffusion: Popular culture diffuses or mixes (usually hierarchically) through rapid electronic communications and transportation networks while Folk culture diffuses or mixes through relocation diffusion.