SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

CMNS 321-4

THE CULTURAL PRODUCTION OF POPULAR MUSIC

Prerequisite:

CMNS 221


Overview:

This course focuses on popular music in relation to central issues in media and communication studies, including: popular culture and music, the commodification of culture, theories of mass culture and society local cultures and media production, globalization and the multinational production of cultural goods, commercialization and consumerism, technology and cultural production, audiences and cultural practice, politics and popular culture, cultural production and the marketplace.
Key theoretical problems in the critical analysis of media are considered with respect to historical and contemporary approaches to the analysis of popular music and society. The course draws on a broad range of communication theory in the study of media and culture to develop a critical analysis to popular music as social communication.


Readings:

A package of course readings will be available in the first class of the semester; the detailed lecture schedule and due dates for examinations and projects will be distributed at that time as well.


Evaluation:

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).