Introduction to Media Studies II (Theory)

1.    Course Description
This course provides a survey of media theory from the 1920s until the digital age. Major schools of media and communications studies will be covered, including the cultural critique of the Frankfurt School of Social Research, the technologist paradigm of media analysis associated with Marshall McLuhan, Chomsky’s critique of media power structures, and poststructuralist/cultural studies analysis of representation and discourse. In addition, the class will look at behavioralist approaches as well as more contemporary quantitative approaches. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the connection between media theory and methods by looking at current media studies practice. 

2.    Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
●    Identify major media theories and schools from the past century 
●    Compare and contrast media theories 
●    Understand the connection between media theories and methods 
●    Apply media theories to primary media sources 
●    Coherently present ideas about media theory through public speaking 
●    Write structured essays about media theory  

3.    Reading Material
Required Materials
(all readings available on NEO)

●    Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucinda
●    Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” 
●    Berger, John. Ways of Seeing (Video)  
●    Bivens, Rena (2017). “The Gender Binary Will Not Be DeProgrammed: Ten Years of Coding Gender on Facebook,” New Media & Society 19(6): 880-898
●    Freely, Maureen (2010). “When the Personal Became Political: a Reappraisal of the Women’s Liberation Movement’s Radical Idea.” Sixties Radicalism and Social Movement Activism: Retreat or Resurgence? ed. by Bryn Johnson and Mike O’Donnell. London: Anthem Press, 211-22
●    Gerbner, George. “Cultural Indicators: The Case of Violence in Television Drama.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 388, no. 1, 1970, pp. 69-81
●    Habermas, Jürgen, “ The Public Sphere” 
●    Hall, Stuart, “Culture, the Media, and the ‘Ideological Effect’” 
●    Hall, Stuart. “What is this ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?” Social Justice (San Francisco, Calif.), vol. 20, no. 1-2, 1993, pp. 104 
●    Hall, Stuart. “Popular Culture, Politics and History.” Cultural Studies (London, England), vol. 32, no. 6, 2018, pp. 929-952.
●    hooks, bell. We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. Taylor and Francis, London, 2004. (selections)  
●    Horkheimer, Max and Theodor Adorno, “The Culture Industry” from Dialectic of Enlightenment
●    Kearney, Mary Celeste (2007). “Productive Spaces: Girls’ Bedrooms as Sites of Cultural
Production” Journal of Children and Media 1(2): 126-141
●    Krakauer, Siegfried. The Mass Ornament (selections) 
●    Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, the Spirit of Late Capitalism (selections) 
●    Lasswell, Harold D. “Communications as an Emerging Discipline.” Audio Visual Communication Review, vol. 6, no. 4, 1958, pp. 245-254; 
●    Lasswell, Harold D. “The Person: Subject and Object of Propaganda.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 179, no. 1, 1935, pp. 187-193
●    McLuhan, Marshall. “Television,” from Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964.
●    McCombs, Maxwell and Donald L. Shaw. "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 2, 1972, pp. 176-187.

4.    Teaching methodology
Teaching will be a combination of in-class lectures by the instructor, group discussions of primary media sources, and student presentations and student-facilitated discussions.