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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: SOC1010 Module Title: POPULAR CULTURE AND EVERYDAY LIFE
Module Provider: Sociology Short Name: SOC107
Level: HE1 Module Co-ordinator: ORTEGA BRETON H Mr (Sociology)
Number of credits: 10 Number of ECTS credits: 5
 
Module Availability

Semester 2 module, commencing Week 1 (7th February 2011), with a class test in Semester 2 Week 10 (9th - 13th May 2011).
Assessment Pattern

Essay based exercise

50%

One timed assignment


50%

Module Overview

What is the social significance of popular culture and how can its investigation improve our understanding of human behaviour? This module aims to provide a critical and reflexive approach to everyday popular cultural forms and content. The focus of the course will be on the everyday significance of contemporary cultural and media forms, including visual/screen media; therapeutic culture; risk panics; social networking and celebrity/tabloid culture. This will involve close attention to everyday, mediatised practices and reflexive and theoretical approaches to understanding the meanings of these practices.

 

 
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
None
Module Aims

At the end of the module, the student should be able to:

 

·         Understand sociological and cultural studies approaches to popular mediatised culture

 

·         Critically discuss contemporary visual culture and cultural trends

 

·         Demonstrate an awareness of current debates in these areas

 

·         Relate substantive areas in cultural and media sociology to a wider sociological understanding of everyday life

 
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the module, the student should be able to:

 

·         Understand sociological and cultural studies approaches to popular mediatised culture

 

·         Critically discuss contemporary visual culture and cultural trends

 

·         Demonstrate an awareness of current debates in these areas

 

·         Relate substantive areas in cultural and media sociology to a wider sociological understanding of everyday life

 

 
Module Content

· 

·         Emotional expressivity in tabloid culture - roles and functions

 

·         Identity, celebrity and media usage – the reproduction of identities and social relations through visual media: email, texting, social networking and television

 

·         Screen cultures: history and significance of the primacy of the visual in cultural life and its consequences

 

·         ‘It’s a bit scary’: everyday fears and anxieties in tabloid and news discourse

 

 
Methods of Teaching/Learning

Lecture and classes
Selected Texts/Journals

Biressi, A, & Nunn, H. (2005) Reality TV: Realism and Revelation. Wallflower Press

 

Carson, F. & Pajaczkowska, C. (Eds.) (2000) Feminist Visual Culture. Edinburgh University Press.

 

Dovey, J.(2000) Freakshow. Pluto Press.

 

Evans, J. & Hall, S. (Eds.) (1999) Visual Culture: The Reader. Open University Press.

 

Gripsrud, J. (2001) Understanding Media Culture London : Edward Arnold.

 

James, Oliver (2008) The Selfish Capitalist: Origins of Affluenza, London : Vermilion.

 

Lasch, Christopher (1979) The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, London & New York : Norton.

 

Lowney, K. S. (1999) Baring our Souls: TV Talk Shows and the Religion of Recovery, New York : Aldine de Gruyter.

 

Lupton, D. (1998) The Emotional Self: A Sociocultural Explanation. Sage.

 

King, G. (2005) The Spectacle of the Real. Intellect, Chapter 3 – ‘Just Like A Movie?’

 

Marshall, P. D. (1997). Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

 

Mirzoeff, N. (1999) An Introduction to Visual Culture. Routledge.

 

Storey, J. (ed.) (2006) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: a Reader. Pearson Education

 

 
Last Updated

Sept 2010