Communication Studies 450.

001, Media and Popular Culture (Spring 2009)

Instructor: Srinath Jayaram Email: jayaram@email.unc.edu

Time: TR 8:00-09:15 am Office: Bingham 303
Location: Murphey 314 Office Hours: Tuesdays 10.00-12.00

Introduction
Media and Popular Cultures captivate, compel, and engulf all of us, even if in significantly different ways.
Simultaneously, people use Media and Popular Cultures to fashion a sense of identity and belonging, even
if in significantly different ways. Yet these very everyday vehicles of expression and tools of diversion are
the object of derision and ridicule. On the political spectrum, discourses from the left as well as from the
right seem hostile to popular culture. Yet the political aspect of popular culture is undeniable.
How do we understand this complex relationship between “culture” and “people”? We begin by a survey
of the different theoretical approaches to the category of “culture” and the complex notion of “the
popular.” These will involve short detours through cultural theory and media history from Europe
(England, Germany, France, Italy). However, towards the second half of the course we will read how
particular technological-cultural forms and practices are articulated to changing political-economic
formations in the twentieth and twenty-first century United States. Specifically, we will try and
understand the cultural political transformation commonly referred to in the United States as Reaganism.
You should at the end of this class be conversant with cultural discourses that on the one hand embodied
Reaganism, and on the other hand critiqued and railed against it. We will finally try and look into an
uncertain cultural future to attempt and
This class is designed to give a critical overview of a wide range of thought about media today that is an
alternative to this view, extending and expanding some of the views of media originally presented in
Comm 140. In order to understand what’s going on in today’s world, we must understand the varieties of
ways of looking at media and how media is used to produce and shape the world we live in. We do not
simply “consume” the culture around us, but use it to fashion our selves, our society, and the ways we
inhabit the world around us. At the same time, media and technology both extend and limit the very
possibilities for the self and society. This course is designed to provoke students into questioning these
possibilities and thinking about how media transform society in a multitude of ways.
Course Goals
At the end of this class you (the student) should:
- be familiar with a variety of different theories and methods of analysis of media and popular culture.
You should also be able to contextualize these theoretical frameworks. In other words, you should be able
to articulate how these theories emerged, developed, and work with and against each other.
- understand the importance of both the content of popular culture as well as the physical and material
media objects with which we engage.
- think of the wide range of human practices and activities as fundamentally rooted in cultural practice,
from watching film and relevision to playing video games and beyond.
Course Organization and Objectives
This course is divided into two parts, each with a specific objective.
1. PART I is an historical overview of a number of paradigms for the analysis of popular culture. We will
discuss the origins – and persistence – of analytics such as British Cultural Studies, Frankfurt School
Marxism, and French Structuralism and Psychoanalysis, Conjuncturalism and how these methods can be
used today to help us understand contemporary cultural and political changes.
2. PART II looks less at the theories of popular culture than their specific application in a variety of
realms of culture today. From issues of identity and representation, to sports, to television, music, and
finally new media and video games, this section of the class moves from object to object to give an
overview of how different forms of popular culture can be analyzed and how these diverse forms relate to
the understanding of the world around us.
3. Throughout the course I want to be sure to articulate the theories of popular culture to your own
experience as subjects that are at once individual and collective. This course is not designed to
“appreciate” popular culture. It is designed to interrogate how popular culture and media are historically
articulated to political, economic changes.
4. The final objective of this class is to begin to connect the various questions about media and popular
culture and will culminate with your final paper. The final paper will connect the contradictory and
complex perspectives that we have studied throughout the course with a focus on one or more particular
perspectives that you find compelling and important.
Class Requirements
There are, basically, six requirements in this class.
1. 12 Short Papers (50% of final grade) This assignment, due almost every week will answer a focused
question that will be available through the blackboard we application. These short papers will have to
succinctly answer the question between 900-1000 words.
Please refer the rubric I will use to evaluate your performance on this assignment in order to understand
the requirements.
2. Final Paper (35% of final grade) During the final few weeks of class, you will have all your short
papers graded and returned to you. The final paper is a way for you to revisit your short papers and
modify, enhance, augment each of the short papers. The key to this assignment however is for you to
connect these different short papers by providing arguments that connect all these divergent, contentious
perspectives.
3. Attendance and Participation (15% of final grade) This is a class primarily for juniors and seniors and
will involve a great deal of discussion and debate. It is your responsibility to do the readings and
participate meaningfully in class. Attendance will not be taken every day in this class, but, obviously, if
you’re not there you cannot participate. Readings should be done before the day of the class listed below
on the schedule.
Requirements for Papers All papers should be written in 12 pt Times New Roman font with 1 inch
margins, double spaced. You should also be familiar with MLA, APA, or other common academic writing
format and apply it correctly in your papers. All sources must be cited. All papers should be stapled or
otherwise bound when they are turned in (folding over the edges does not count). Page counts above do
not include works cited pages and/or footnotes/endnotes. You should have a writing handbook from the
writing class you took freshman year. Papers should generally follow that handbook’s guide to writing
style. IMPORTANT: Please staple the rubric on top of your assignment.
Other General Requirements There are several expectations that are common to all classes that should go
without saying, but I’ll reiterate them here: You are under the honor code at all times in this class. Turn
off your cell phones before class. You are not allowed to use computers at all in this class unless making a
presentation. You need to respect the other students in the class and their opinions - this doesn’t mean you
can’t criticize what others have said, but you need to do so tactfully and with support. Even though I’m
not going to strictly take attendance, don’t come in late, I will take note and it will affect your
participation grade.
Various Other Things to Know
Submitting Papers/Late Policy I DO NOT accept individual papers via email. You must print out a hard
copy and give it to me. Papers are due IN CLASS. If you are not in class the day a graded assignment is
due, it will be considered late unless you have a valid excuse. I will take off a letter grade each day a
paper is late. As soon as class ends, 10% will be deduced from the grade you would have received.
Communicating with me The best way to talk to me is to catch me after class or during my office hours
(which will be defined shortly after classes begin). I am available over email, but it may take me a day to
respond. As well, do not ask me a question about an assignment the day before it is due, I will most likely
not respond in time.
Plagiarism Please be sure that you have read and understand the writing center's handout on plagiarism. If
you have any questions concerning this document or plagiarism in general, be certain that you get them
answered.

Please note that plagiarism is grounds for automatic failure of this course.
Finally, this is a reading, writing, and discussion based class. I realize that with a class size of 25 people
it’s easy to get lost or slip by without doing the readings. Remember, 15% of your grade is based on
participation, so discussion is a very significant part of your success in this class, even if you’re not right
or some of the readings confused you (some are quite difficult and their “meaning” is contested even by
“experts” - if you think you’re understanding everything clearly I’d suggest reading more closely). If
you’re confused by something you’re probably not the only one. Also, the majority of students in this
class, I realize, are seniors, and I also realize some of you may be tempted to check out early with a
terminal case of “senioritis.” Just so you know, I’m not going to be easier on you just because I know
you’re ready to leave.

Readings:
Required Texts
John Storey, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, 4th edition (Athens: University of
Georgia Press, 2006). – Marked as [I] Below
John Storey, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader – Marked as [R] Below
Steve Jones, Antonio Gramsci, (New York: Routledge)
All other readings will be available on Blackboard. – Marked as [BB] Below
All readings should be completed before class so you can participate in discussion.
NOTE: Some of the readings, especially those later on in the semester, are subject to change. If they do,
I’ll be sure you know what you’re supposed to read for class. Furthermore, if the changed readings are not
available in texts from the student stores, I will make them available through blackboard.
Course Schedule (subject to significant changes)

PART I
Week 1 – What is Popular Culture?
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 Course Introduction
Thursday, January 15, 2009 I Chapter 1 – “What is Popular Culture?”

Week 2 – The Culture and Civilization Tradition

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 I Chapter 2 – “The Culture and Civilization Tradition”
Thursday, January 22, 2009 R Matthew Arnold, “Culture and Anarchy”
R F. R. Leavis, “Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture”

Week 3 – Culturalism
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
I Chapter 3 – “Culturalism”
R Richard Hoggart, “The Full Rich Life & The Newer Mass Art:
Sex in Shiny Packets”
R E. P. Thompson, “Preface” from The Making of the English
Working Class
BB Raymond Williams, “Culture is Ordinary”
BB Stuart Hall, “Notes On Deconstructing the Popular”

Week 4 – Marxisms, False Consciousness and Ideology

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I Chapter 4 – “Marxisms”
R Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, “Ruling Class and Ruling
Ideas”
R Karl Marx, “Base and Superstructure”
BB Theodor W. Adorno, “Free Time,” in J. M. Bernstein (ed.),
The Culture Industry (London: Routledge, 1991), 187-197.
BB Dominic Strinati, “The Frankfurt School and the Culture
Industry”

Week 5 – Marxisms, False Consciousness and Ideology

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 BB Martin Jay “Aesthetic Theory and the Critique of Mass
Culture”
Thursday, February 12, 2009 BB Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction”

Week 6 – Structuralism & Psychoanalysis

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I Chapter 4 – “Structuralism and Post-Structuralism”
BB Anthony Storr, selection from Freud: A Very Short
Introduction
R Jacques Lacan, “Mirror Stage”
BB Louis Althusser, “Ideology and the Ideological State
Apparatus”

Week 7 – Marxisms, Hegemony

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
AG Steve Jones, “Why Gramsci”; “Gramsci’s Political and
Intellectual Development”; “Culture”; “Hegemony”
R Tony Bennett, “Popular Culture and the ‘turn to Gramsci’”
AG Steve Jones, “Hegemony in Practice 1: Identity”,
“Hegemony in practice 2: representations and institutions”
Week 8 – Marxisms, Hegemony
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
AG Steve Jones, “Intellectuals”; “Crisis”; “Americanism and
Fordism”
AG Steve Jones, “After Gramsci”
BB Lawrence Grossberg, “Does Cultural Studies Have Futures?
Should It? (Or What’s the Matter with New York?”

Week 9 – Spring Break!!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Have Fun
Thursday, March 12, 2009 Enjoy it while you can

PART II (Details to be announced)

Week 10 – Post Structuralism

Week 11 – Hollywood and Reaganism

Week 12 – Reality TV

Week 13 – Music

Week 14 – Pornography

Week 15 – Catch-up & Review

Final Exam Thursday, May 07, 2009