Course Catalogue

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This course offers an introduction to a range of classic and contemporary theoretical and empirical approaches drawn from the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies to provide the foundations for a critical engagement with ongoing transformations in media and culture.

One online recorded lecture (room not needed).

One 2 hour in-person workshop (showing mini-lectures in class, activities and 2 staff members).

TOTAL - 2 HOURS A WEEK in-person.

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1x 4000 word essay where students pick a question related to one week of teaching.

This will build on previous feedback they have had on their formative assessment essay plan which they will have received weeks in advance of the deadline for this. Also, given the traditionally large class sizes for the core course for this programme - having more than one assessment would add significant workload pressures to staff.

This course introduces students to key conceptual, theoretical and empirical work from the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies that provides the foundation for a critical interrogation of contemporary trends in media and culture. By learning with 'classic' and 'contemporary' theorists students will be able to draw on, understand and critically interrogate a range of differing approaches to understanding media and culture. In doing so there will be a specific focus on how utilising these theorists can:

1. Enable us to untangle and understand the role of media and culture in constituting, mediating and circulating values which legitimate and reproduce a range of intersecting structural inequalities relating to class, gender, race, sexuality and other forms of identity.

2. Allow a critical insight into understanding the changing infrastructures and structures of media and culture and how these enable and constrain social practice in relation to inequalities, politics, economy and culture.

Taken together, the course will provide student with the theoretical and critical knowledge to be able to understand the dynamic relations between economy and culture, the role of the media within this dynamic and how a range of approaches can enable insights into transformations in media and culture more broadly.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to articulate, compare, and contrast various theoretical, conceptual, and empirical approaches within media and cultural studies, drawing from a diverse range of social and cultural theories.

2. Critically analyse trends within media, culture, and society, applying relevant social and cultural theories

3. Critically apply theoretical and empirical work from social and cultural theory to investigate and evaluate how media and culture contribute to the formation and mediation of intersecting social inequalities.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.