SCHOOL
OF COMMUNICATION
CMNS 130-3
| Burnaby Day | Spring
2001 |
Catherine
Murray RCB 6149; 604-291-5322 |
|
| Email: murraye@sfu.ca |
EXPLORATIONS IN MASS COMMUNICATION
This course introduces the media, popular culture and society. The intent
is to introduce the major debates in communication today, and move the "savvy
media consumer" beyond media literacy to critical awareness. This course
will introduce the various theoretical approaches to the field of communication,
and suggest later related readings.
Required Texts:
(Everyone)
R. Lorimer and M. Gasher (2000) Mass Communication in Canada, 4th ed. Don
Mills, Ontario: Oxford.
Recommended Texts:
(One of)
Michelle Martin(1997), Communication and Mass Media: Culture Domination and
Opposition. Scarborough: Prentice Hall.
Lawrence Grossberg et al. (1998), MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Supplementary Materials:
Your tutorial assistants will distribute these materials as needed throughout
the course. You will be expected to read AT LEAST 30 pages weekly, and more
for your tutorial and essay assignments.
Grade Distribution:
Tutorial Participation 10%
Tutorial Presentation/Debate Notes 15%
Mid Term Exam (week six in class) 20%
Final Exam (TBA) 30%
Paper: 8 pages 25%
Schedule of Lectures & Tutorials:
*Tutorials are one week behind the lecture in topic.
A. Media in Time and Space (History and Political Economy)
1. Introduction: Mapping the Flow
2. Social History of the Media
3. Power, Public and Politics of the Media
4. Mo' Money Blues: Markets, Capitalization, Globalization
B. Making Sense of the Media (Popular Culture)
5. Ideas, Ideology and Interpretation of Meaning
6. Producing Identities: The Construction of Race and Gender
7. Advertising and the Consumerism
8. Garage Bands and Bare Naked Ladies: The Canadian Music Industry
C. Structuring the Media (Policy and Institutions)
9. State, Regulation and Public Policy
10. Moral Panics and Video Nasties
11. Consumers' Rights, Resistance and the Civic Agenda
12. Digitization, Media Morphing and Canadian Democracy
The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will
bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with
respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School
will follow Policy T10.02 with respect to “Intellectual Honesty”,
and “Academic Discipline” (see the current Calendar, General Regulations
Section).