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Soc. 118: Media, Culture & Society

Dive into sociology of culture and media in the digital age, studying popular culture's social context, production, consumption, and impact.

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Soc. 118: Media, Culture & Society

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  1. Soc. 118: Media, Culture & Society Professor Jill Stein

  2. Soc. 118: Media, Culture & Society • Course Basics: • Enrollment • Review syllabus • Class website: www.profstein.wordpress.com • Introduction • What is sociology? • Study of society • Sociology of Culture • Study of cultural objects • Significance embodied in form • Mass media and popular culture • The Digital Age • Example: Did You Know? 4.0

  3. Soc. 118: Media, Culture & Society Chapter 1 The Straight Story: The Social Organization of Popular Culture

  4. Chapter 1: Overview • The Social Organization of Popular Culture • What Makes Pop Culture Popular? • What is Culture? • The Social Context of Pop Culture • Audiences and Popular Culture • Producing and Consuming Popular Culture • Three Approaches to Studying Media and Popular Culture

  5. The Social Organization of Popular Culture • Historical cycles • Rediscovery and reinvention • Creators draw upon past work • The origins of “SOS (Rescue Me)” • Emerges through collective activity • Networks of creators • No lone artists • Produced and consumed in social context • Sets of relationships

  6. What Makes It Popular Culture? 1. Well-liked Commercial success 2. Globally ubiquitous Easily recognized 3. Mass culture for general consumption Lowest common denominator 4. Folk expressions belonging to the people Populism and authenticity

  7. What is Culture? • Defining Culture • Humanities/Social Sciences • Culture is: • Symbolic • Socially constructed • Embodied • Sociology of Culture • Study of cultural objects • Significance embodied in form • Possible range • Art, tools, media, symbols, gestures • Pop culture as collective action • Art Worlds (Howard Becker) • Creative Networks • Division of labor • Support personnel • Cooperative links • Examples from culture industries • Music • Example: Stein’s Research • Film, TV, print

  8. The Social Context of Pop Culture Big Mama Thornton Elvis Presley • “Why 1955?: Explaining the Advent of Rock Music” (Richard Peterson) • “Hound Dog” • Social forces shape production • Economy • Technology • Suburbanization • Laws

  9. Audiences, Production and Consumption • Cultural objects are multivocal • Different meaning and interpretation • Social background of audience • Interpretive communities • Shared identity and experience • Shapes preferences • Genres • Example: Native Americans and “Westerns” • Media gatekeepers influence choices • Collective consumption • In groups, in public, in virtual communities • Example: MMORGs • New technologies blur production and consumption • Audience as creators • Mash-ups • Example: “Grey Album” The Searchers World of Warcraft Danger Mouse

  10. Sociology of Media and Popular Culture • 3 Theoretical Approaches: • Functionalist • Critical • Interaction • Coming next …

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