SOCI 2705B | DIGH 2705ADepartment of Sociology and Anthropology Carleton University

Winter 2019

Popular Culture in the Digital Age

In this course we will explore the sociology of popular culture; that is, the ways in which as-pects of contemporary society are reflected in cultural artifacts and practices, and, in turn, the ways in which those things influence society.

In exploring this relationship, we will first dif-ferentiate popular culture from other forms of culture before examining the ideological ef-fects of cultural products, the nature of those products as commodities, and who produces pop culture. We will also try to understand why we like the things we like, and how globalization and digi-tal technologies are affecting the production and consumption of culture around the world. The course will conclude by looking at the rise of dystopian themes in pop culture and possi-ble directions for the future.

Instructor: Dr. Joel Z. Garrod joelgarrod@cmail.carleton.ca

Location: 518 Southam Hall Mon 8:35 – 11:25

Office Hours: Loeb A701 Mon 12:00 – 13:00

Course Objectives

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All readings can be found on CULearn.

I truly believe that this course is relevant to your lives. If, at any time during this course, you feel that what we’re learning isn’t useful, I urge you to put up your hand and ask me: “Why should I give a damn?”

I’ll gladly take time to explain why I believe what we’re learning is important for you to know. And if I can’t explain why, I’ll amend that section of the course.

By the end of this course, you should have:

• A broad grasp of the history and development of pop culture

• Knowledge of the various social forces that shape pop culture

• Knowledge of how pop culture is produced and consumed

• The ability to critically interpret pop culture and how we interact with it

Requirements

Attendance is absolutely vital to this course, and will be a necessary component to getting a good grade. Attendance at all classes is expected unless docu-mentation explaining an absence can be provided. In return for attending the course, I promise to make it interesting, and worthwhile. If you are unable to at-tend class regularly, I recommend you do not take this course.

The Encoding/Decoding assignment will assess your understanding of Hall’s encoding/decoding model by asking you to analyze a recent news article and provide different interpretations as to how the text might be understood by different social groups.

The Project Runway assignment will assess your ability to apply theories and concepts from the course to contemporary media by asking you to pro-vide a critical analysis of an episode of Project Run-way. The episode will be viewed in class.

The Research Paper aims to evaluate your understanding of the course material from the entire term and your ability to apply it to cultural phenomena. You will be asked to critically analyze a popular cultural artifact or practice, and answer the following questions: (1) How is contemporary society reflected in this cultural artifact/practice?; (2) What effect (or effects) does this artifact/prac-tice have on contemporary society?; (3) Are these effects positive or negative? Why?

The Final Exam will assess your understanding of the course material from the entire term. You will be asked to answer a single question in essay format.

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All citations in APA Double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font

Late items marked down 5% per day

Grading

√ Attendance: 10%

√ Encoding/Decoding: 10%

√ Project Runway: 20%

√ Research Paper: 30%

√ Final Exam: 30%

Class Schedule

Date Topic Readings

January 7 Introduction Syllabus

January 14 What is Pop Culture? Szeman, I., & O’Brien, S. (2017). Introducing popular culture. Popular culture: A user’s guide, international edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 1–29.

Macdonald, D. (1953). A theory of mass culture. Diogenes, 1(3), 1–17.

Williams, R. (1974, November). On high and popular culture. New Republic. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/79269/high-and-popular-culture

Optional:

Williams, R. (1976). ‘Culture’ and ‘masses’. In R. Guins & O. Zaragoza (Eds.), Popular culture: A reader. London: Sage, 25–32.

Date

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January 21 The History of Pop Culture Elias, N. (1939/2000). Sociogenesis of the antithesis between Kultur and Zivilisation in German usage. The civilizing process: Sociogenetic and psychogenetic investigations. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 5–43.

Storch, R. D. (1982). Introduction: Persistence and change in nineteenth-century popular culture. In R. D. Storch (Ed.), Popular culture and custom in nineteenth-century England. London: Croom Helm Ltd, 1–19.

Williams, R. (1978). The press and popular culture: A historical perspective. In G. Boyce, J. Curran, & P. Wingate (Eds.), Newspaper history: From the seventeenth century to the present day. London: Constable, 41–50.

January 28 Culture and Ideology Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1845). Ruling class and ruling ideas. The German ideology. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm

Hall, S. (1977/1993). Encoding/decoding. In S. During (Ed.), The cultural studies reader (2nd edition). London: Routledge, 507–517.

Castleberry, G. (2016). Understanding Stuart Hall’s ‘Encoding/Decoding’ model through TV’s Breaking Bad. In K. Roberts & J. Kickly (Eds.), Communication theory and millennial popular culture: Essays and applications. New York: Peter Lang, 84–95.

Optional:

Williams, R. (1976). ‘Culture’ and ‘ideology’. Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society. London: Fontana/Croom Helm, 76–82 and 126–130.

Topic ReadingsDate

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February 4 Pop Culture as Commodity Marx, K. (1867). The fetishism of commodities and the secret thereof. Capital: Volume one. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm#S4

Debord, G. (1967). Commodity as spectacle. Society of the spectacle. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm

Baudrillard, J. (1976). Toward a critique of the political economy of the sign. Substance, 5(15), 111–116.

February 11 Producing Pop Culture

*Encoding/decoding assignment due

Film: Ways of Seeing

Benjamin, W. (1936). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Adorno, T. (1975). Culture industry reconsidered. New German Critique, 6, 12–19.

Lambert, C. (2014). The way of the blockbuster. Harvard Magazine. Retrieved from https://harvardmagazine.com/2014/01/the-way-of-the-blockbuster

February 18 Reading Week Catch up or jump ahead on readings.

Topic ReadingsDate

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February 25 Project Runway Assignment Catch up or jump ahead on readings

March 4 Consuming Pop Culture

Film: The Price of Everything

Veblen, T. (1899/2007). Conspicuous consumption. Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Oxford University Press, 49–69.

Bourdieu, P. (1984). The variants of the dominant taste. Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 283–295.

Bartin, K. (2013). Why we watch them sing and dance: The uses and gratifications of talent-based reality television. Communication Quarterly, 61(2), 217–235.

Topic ReadingsDate

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March 11 Celebrity in the Digital Age

*Project Runway assignment due

Gamson, J. (1994). Industrial-strength celebrity. Claims to fame: Celebrity in contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 57–78.

Marwick, A. & Boyd, D. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter. Convergence, 17(2), 139–158.

Marshall, P. D. (2014). Tools for the analysis of celebrity as a form of cultural power. Celebrity and power: Fame in contemporary culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 51–76.

March 18 Pop Culture and Technology Childress, C. C. (2012). All media are social. Contexts, 11(1), 55–57.

Giroux, H. (2015). Selfie culture in the age of corporate and state surveillance. Third Text, 29(3), 155–164.

Murray, D. (2015) Notes to self: The visual culture of selfies in the age of social media. Consumption Markets & Culture, 18(6), 490–516.

Greenfield, A. (2017). Introduction: Paris year zero. Radical technologies: The design of everyday life. New York: Verso.

Topic ReadingsDate

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March 25 Global Media Convergence

Film: Generation Like

Jenkins, H. (2004). The cultural logic of media convergence. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(1), 33–43.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Pop cosmopolitanism: Mapping cultural flows in an age of media convergence. Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. New York: New York University Press, 152–172.

Jin, D. (2012). The new wave of de-convergence: A new business model of the communication industry in the 21st century. Media, Culture & Society, 34(6), 761–772.

April 1 Global Capitalism and Pop Culture

Pieterse, J. N. (1996). Globalisation and culture: Three paradigms. Economic and Political Weekly, 31(23), 1389–1393.

Cowen, T. (2015). Why Hollywood rules the world, and whether we should care. In Lechner, F.J. & Boli J. (Eds.), The globalization reader (fifth edition). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 405–411.

Watson, J. (1997). McDonald’s in Hong Kong: Consumerism, dietary change, and the rise of a children’s culture. Golden arches east: McDonald’s in East Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 77–109.

Topic ReadingsDate

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April 8 Dystopia in Pop Culture

*Research paper due

Queenan, J. (2015). From Insurgent to Blade Runner: Why is the future on film always so grim? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/19/dystopian-films-blade-runner-insurgent-future-grim

Christopher, D. (2015). The capitalist and cultural work of apocalypse and dystopia films. Cineaction, 95, 56–65.

Fisher, M. (2009). It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Capitalist realism. London: Zero Books, 1–11.

Topic ReadingsDate

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Obligatory Remarks

Course Requirements & Methods of Evaluation: In accordance with the Carleton University Undergraduate Calendar Regulations, the letter grades assigned in this course will have the following percentage equivalents:

A+ = 90-100 B+ = 77-79 C+ = 67-69 D+ = 57-59 A = 85-89 B = 73-76 C = 63-66 D = 53-56 A - = 80-84 B - = 70-72 C - = 60-62 D - = 50-52 F = Below 50 WDN = Withdrawn from the course DEF = Deferred (See above)

Academic Regulations, Accommodations, Plagiarism, Etc. University rules regarding registration, withdrawal, appealing marks, and most anything else you might need to know can be found on the university’s website, here: www.calendar.car-leton.ca/undergrad/regulations/academicregulationsoftheuniversity/

You may need special arrangements to meet your academic obligations during the term. For an accommodation request, the processes are as follows:

Academic Accommodations for Students with DisabilitiesThe Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities (PMC) provides services to students with Learning Disabilities (LD), psychiatric/mental health disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), chronic medical conditions, and impair-ments in mobility, hearing, and vision. If you have a disability requiring academic accommoda-tions in this course, please contact PMC at 613-520-6608 or pmc@carleton.ca for a formal evaluation. If you are already registered with the PMC, contact your PMC coordinator to send your Letter of Accommodation at the beginning of the term, and no later than two weeks be-fore the first in-class scheduled test or exam requiring accommodation (if applicable). *The deadline for contacting the Paul Menton Centre regarding accommodation for final ex-ams for the Winter 2019 (April) exam period is March 15, 2019.

For Religious Obligations: Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website: www.carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/up-loads/Student-Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf

For Pregnancy: Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. For more details, visit the Equity Services website: www.carleton.ca/equity/wp-content/up-loads/Student-Guide-to-Academic-Accommodation.pdf

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For Survivors of Sexual ViolenceAs a community, Carleton University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working and living environment where sexual violence will not be tolerated, and where survivors are supported through academic accommodations as per Carleton's Sexual Violence Policy. For more information about the services available at the university and to obtain information about sexual violence and/or support, visit: www.carleton.ca/sexual-violence-support

Accommodation for Student Activities Carleton University recognizes the substantial benefits, both to the individual student and for the university, that result from a student participating in activities beyond the classroom experi-ence. Reasonable accommodation must be provided to students who compete or perform at the national or international level. Please contact your instructor with any requests for academic accommodation during the first two weeks of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist. https://carleton.ca/senate/wp-content/uploads/Accommo-dation-for-Student-Activities-1.pdf

Plagiarism Plagiarism is the passing off of someone else's work as your own and is a serious academic offence. For the details of what constitutes plagiarism, the potential penalties and the proce-dures refer to the section on Instructional Offences in the Undergraduate Calendar. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with and follow the Carleton University Student Acade-mic Integrity Policy (See https://carleton.ca/registrar/academic-integrity/). The Policy is strictly enforced and is binding on all students. Academic dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated. Students who infringe the Policy may be subject to one of several penalties.

What are the Penalties for Plagiarism? A student found to have plagiarized an assignment may be subject to one of several penalties including but not limited to: a grade of zero, a failure or a reduced grade for the piece of aca-demic work; reduction of final grade in the course; completion of a remediation process; re-submission of academic work; withdrawal from course(s); suspension from a program of study; a letter of reprimand.

What are the Procedures? All allegations of plagiarism are reported to the faculty of Dean of FASS and Management. Documentation is prepared by instructors and departmental chairs. The Dean writes to the student and the University Ombudsperson about the alleged plagiarism. The Dean reviews the allegation. If it is not resolved at this level then it is referred to a tribunal appointed by the Sen-ate.

Assistance for Students: Academic and Career Development Services: http://carleton.ca/sacds/ Writing Services: http://www.carleton.ca/csas/writing-services/ Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS): https://carleton.ca/csas/group-support/pass/

Important Information: • Student or professor materials created for this course (including presentations and post-

ed notes, labs, case studies, assignments and exams) remain the intellectual property

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of the author(s). They are intended for personal use and may not be reproduced or redistributed without prior written consent of the author(s).

• Students must always retain a hard copy of all work that is submitted. • Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor subject to the approval of

the Faculty Dean. This means that grades submitted by the instructor may be subject to revision. No grades are final until they have been approved by the Dean.

• Carleton University is committed to protecting the privacy of those who study or work here (currently and formerly). To that end, Carleton’s Privacy Office seeks to encour-age the implementation of the privacy provisions of Ontario’s Freedom of Informa-tion and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) within the university.

• In accordance with FIPPA, please ensure all communication with staff/faculty is via your Carleton email account. To get your Carleton Email you will need to activate your MyCarletonOne account through Carleton Central. Once you have activated your MyCarletonOne account, log into the MyCarleton Portal.

• Please note that you will be able to link your MyCarletonOne account to other non-My-CarletonOne accounts and receive emails from us. However, for us to respond to your emails, we need to see your full name, CU ID, and the email must be written from your valid MyCarletonOne address. Therefore, it would be easier to respond to your inquiries if you would send all email from your connect account. If you do not have or have yet to activate this account, you may wish to do so by visiting https://students.carleton.ca/

Important Dates

Winter 2019

January 7 Winter term classes begin. January 15 Deferred final assignments and/or take-home examinations for Fall

Term 0.5 credit courses are due. January 18 Last day for registration and course changes in Winter term classes. January 18–20, 25–27 Fall term deferred examinations will be written. January 31 Last day to withdraw from Winter term and Winter portion of Fall/Win-

ter courses with full fee adjustment. Withdrawals after this date will re-sult in a permanent notation of WDN to appear on the official tran-script.

February 15 April exam schedule available online. February 18–22 Winter Break, classes suspended. March 26 Last day for summative tests or final examinations, or formative tests or

examinations totaling more than 15% of the final grade in Winter term courses before the official examination period.

April 9 Winter term ends. Last day of Fall/Winter and Winter term classes. Last day for academic withdrawal from Fall/Winter and Winter term courses. Last day for take- home examinations to be assigned (except those that conform to the Academic Regulations of the University in the Under-graduate Calendar/General Regulations of the Graduate Calendar). Last day for handing in term work and the last day that can be specified

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by a course instructor as a due date for term work for Fall/Winter and Winter term courses

April 12–27 Final Examinations for Winter and Fall/Winter courses. Exams are nor-mally held all seven days of the week.

April 19–21 Statutory Holiday, University closed April 27 All take-home examinations are due except those that conform to the

academic Regulations of the University in the Undergraduate Calen-dar/General Regulations of the Graduate Calendar.

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