Module SOCI1351: CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Department: APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES (SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY)

SOCI1351: CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To examine and contrast the main uses of the concept of culture within contemporary society.
• To describe and convey a good understanding of the main approaches within the sociology of culture.
• To explore through a series of case studies, the tensions and congruences between sociological approaches to cultural forms and the discourses internal to those forms.
• To contrast sociological and other approaches to a range of cultural forms such as cinema, architecture, football, food, migration, traveling, television, drinking, clubbing, news media, religion.
• To prepare students for deeper sociological study of specific cultural forms.

Content

• This module examines and contrasts the various meanings and experiences of culture within contemporary society.
• In order to develop a good understanding of the main approaches within the sociology of culture, it explores through a series of case studies, the sociological approaches to cultural forms and their analysis within the popular media and their own specific disciplines.
• It does this by comparing sociological and other approaches to a range of cultural forms such as cinema, urban imagery, football, food, migration, traveling, television, drinking, clubbing, news, media, religion.
• It is ideal preparation for students who are preparing for deeper study of specific cultural forms whether sociologically or in terms of the language of those forms themselves.
• Part one examines culture against the sociological concepts of class, gender and ethnicity.
• Part two involves four separate two-week engagements with four of the following (cinema, urban visual culture, football, food, migration, traveling, television, religion, drinking and clubbing)
• Part three reviews debates within the sociology of culture and related discourses about the meanings of culture and regarding the various possible forms of its classification.
• Part four consists of the final four weeks of the course in which the focus will be on the development of student driven case studies developed within the broad area of popular culture.

Learning Outcomes

• That students will have a good introductory knowledge of the different historical and contemporary approaches to understanding culture.
• That students will have a good understanding of the processes of signification and representation within popular culture.
• That students will be able to undertake basic sociological analyses within cultural fields.
• That students will have a basic understanding of the relationships between key sociological concepts (such as class, status, gender, ethnicity and identity) and persistent, decaying and emergent cultural forms.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Learning of basic approaches to culture, both within sociology and within the discourses of various cultural forms will be enabled by lectures, seminar exercises and assigned reading.
• Contrast between the sociology of culture and the discourses specific to various cultural forms will be developed through conventional teaching and study, but also through the use of multi-media.
• The initial seminars will provide a framework within which the substantive core of the module will develop to feature a series of case study examinations within different cultural forms, such as cinema, urban imagery, football, food, migration, traveling, television, drinking, clubbing, news, media, religion.
• These case study examinations will develop in a 'Culture Lab' form through lectures, seminars and four specially designed televisual presentations.
• The course will be assessed formatively by the assignment of socio-critical review exercise, in which the focus will be on adding a sociological dimension to the traditional form of cultural criticism encountered in the news media.
• The summative assessment will consist of one essay, relating to different cultural forms, and one case study project (examined by group poster exhibition and individual commentary) on some aspect of popular culture.
• Through this the development of an increasingly sociological informed culture-critical ability will be encouraged and assessed.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Socio-critical review exercise.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University