SC106-4-FY-CO:
Media, Culture and Society
2023/24
Sociology and Criminology
Colchester Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 28 June 2024
30
26 May 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA LP33 Media and Digital Culture,
BA LP34 Media and Digital Culture (including Placement Year),
BA P300 Media and Digital Culture (Including Foundation Year),
BA PL33 Media and Digital Culture (including Year Abroad),
BA QP10 English Language with Media Communication,
BA QP11 English Language with Media Communication (Including Year Abroad),
BA QP12 English Language with Media Communication (Including Placement Year),
BA QP13 English Language with Media Communication (Including Foundation Year),
BSC L310 Sociology with Data Science,
BSC L311 Sociology with Data Science (including Year Abroad),
BSC L312 Sociology with Data Science (including Placement Year),
BSC L313 Sociology with Data Science (Including foundation Year),
BA W350 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies,
BA W351 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (including Year Abroad),
BA W352 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (including Placement Year),
BA W353 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (Including Foundation Year)
Introduction
This module of study provides a critical introduction to the key issues of concern to scholars of modern culture and society within the emerging field of media studies. It explores the reasons why we must understand the role of the media in social life and provides an accessible account of how we get to grips with social communication. As such, our foremost interest will be examining the social practices that have shaped the media in modern society. By the end of the module, students will have accessed a range of critical approaches to questions such as:
• Do the media influence social behaviour and the politics of representation?
• What is the relationship between the media, mass politics and governance?
• Are the media reflective or instigative of social and cultural change?
• What constitutes media power and who wields it?
This module follows three major areas over two terms of lectures. In the Autumn term, the syllabus is focused on key concepts. In the Spring term, we will explore key debates and research methods.
Aims and Objectives
The aim of this module is to encourage students to understand the modern media as a social terrain, as a systematic order of communication, and as a domain of ideas. The topics studied will cover some of the high profile areas of popular debate including the media and violence, the media and persuasion, the media and objectivity. In parallel, the module also develops some of the central concerns of intellectual debate, including:
• The relationship between popular aesthetics, technology and society.
• The role of the media in the construction and contestation of values and meanings.
• The progressive or regressive tendencies of an increasingly mediated society.
Students will receive a foundation in the major theoretical approaches to mass media, the premises of which will be established using examples from cinema, photography, newspapers and, in particular, television. In the process, students will encounter many of the disciplinary strands contributing to contemporary media analysis: sociology, cultural studies, semiotics, cultural and political economy, history, mass communications, and anthropology. Students will also consider the basics of practical methodologies for doing media research, including content analysis, research interviews and ethnography. The module is intended to be accessible to entry-level students in the humanities and social sciences, and will support further study of contemporary media in a number of disciplines.
Students will receive a foundation in the major theoretical approaches to mass media, the premises of which will be established using examples from cinema, photography, newspapers and, in particular, television. In the process, students will encounter many of the disciplinary strands contributing to contemporary media analysis: sociology, cultural studies, semiotics, cultural and political economy, history, mass communications, and anthropology. Students will also consider the basics of practical methodologies for doing media research, including content analysis, research interviews and ethnography. The module is intended to be accessible to entry-level students in the humanities and social sciences, and will support further study of contemporary media in a number of disciplines.
Module topic list
AUTUMN TERM
Lecture 1 - week 2 Introduction to Media, Culture and Society
Lecture 2 - week 3 Media Texts and Meaning: Media Representations
Lecture 3 - week 4 Media and Social Context: Media Power
Lecture 4 - week 5 Media Texts and Meaning: How Do Media Make Meaning?
Lecture 5 - week 6 Media Texts and Meaning: Genre and Narrative
Lecture 6 - week 7 Media Texts and Meaning: Reality Media
Lecture 7 - week 8 Media and Social Contexts: Conceptualising Mass Society
Lecture 8 - week 9 Media and Social Contexts: Postmodernism and Post-Truth
Lecture 9 - week 10 Media and Social Contexts: Consumer Society and Advertising
Lecture 10 - week 11 Essay Surgeries
SPRING TERM
Lecture 11 - week 16 Producing Media: The Business of Media
Lecture 12 - week 17 Producing Media: Media Regulation and Policy
Lecture 13 - week 18 Producing Media: Media Production in A Global Age
Lecture 14 - week 19 Producing Media: Media Business in the Digital Age
Week 20 - Reading Week – Independent Activity (see below)
Lecture 15 - week 21 Media and Technology
Lecture 16 - week 22 Media Audiences: Producing Audiences
Lecture 17 - week 23 Media Audiences: Investigating Audiences
Lecture 18 - week 24 Media Audiences: New Media Audiences
Lecture 19 - week 25 Essay Surgeries
SUMMER TERM
Weeks 30 and 31 Revision Sessions
Most modules in Sociology are divided into lectures of around 50 minutes and a class of around 50 minutes. Some are taught as a 2hr seminar, and others via a 50-minute lecture and 2-hr lab.
Please note that you should be spending up to eight hours per week undertaking your own private study (reading, preparing for classes or assignments, etc.) on each of your modules (e.g. 32 hours in total for four 30-credit modules).
The lectures provide an overview of the substantive debates around the topic of the week, while the classes will give you the opportunity to reflect on your learning and actively engage with your peers to develop your understanding further.
The lecture and classes will take place face-to-face. You are strongly encouraged to attend the classes as they provide an opportunity to talk with your class teacher and other students. The classes will be captured and available via Listen Again. However, if you want to gain the most you can from these classes it is very important that you attend and engage. Please note that the recording of classes is at the discretion of the teacher.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Autumn Essay |
|
50% |
| Coursework |
Spring Essay |
|
50% |
| Exam |
Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 180 minutes during Summer (Main Period)
|
| Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: In-Person, Open Book, 180 minutes during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr James Allen-Robertson, email: jallenh@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Michael Bailey, email: mbailey@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Michael Bailey and Dr James Allen-Robertson
email: socugrad (Non essex users should add @essex.ac.uk to create the full email address)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 38 hours, 38 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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