CMNS 110 (SURREY)

FINAL EXAM (20% of overall grade; 2 hours, closed book)

STUDY QUESTIONS & EXAM PREP

PART I
There are 10 names & concepts in two lists below. You will be required to do five of them (5 X 2% each). N.B.: Do a minimum of two (2) from each list.

NAMES:
Instructions: Provide the person’s dates, something about their background, and their significance in, or contribution to, the study of communication.
1. Dallas Smythe
2. Walter Benjamin
3. Raymond Williams
4. Antonio Gramsci
5. Theodore Adorno


CONCEPTS:
Instructions: Provide definitions or explanations. Each should be accompanied with an example drawn from either course discussions and readings or your own perceptions.
1. Media ethics
2. Hegemony
3. False consciousness
4. Propaganda model of the media
5. Ideology

PART II
Prior to the exam two of the five study questions will be removed, and you will write two (2 X 5%) or the remaining three.

1. In light of what we’ve studied this semester, why might we want to reconsider the suggestion that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”?

2. What is the “authoritarian personality,” and what provoked the Frankfurt School’s interested in it? In that context, would you say that ideology and propaganda played a central or primary role in its formation? Why do you think so?

3. In the myth Socrates tells, which benefits and dangers are suggested by the new medium proffered by Teuth? What might Thamus say about new media today? Might have knowing about tetrads have given Thamus’ greater insight then and/or now?

4. What distinguishes “administrative” from “critical” approaches to the study of communication? Organize your response around representative researchers or scholars, as well as their findings, contributions or insights.

5. Explain how signs matter in the study of communication. What are they made up of and to what do they refer? What role do “codes” play in this “science of signs?” Support your discussion with examples drawn from your perceptions and/or experience.

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CMNS 110 F 07 FINAL 1