Sociology 306I

Popular Culture in Society

Spring 2002

Professor Linda Andes

Email: andes@siu.edu

Phone: 453-7622

Office: Faner 3425

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 3:30pm to 5:30pm;

Thurs 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm and by appointment

Course Description

This course will examine the social organization of popular culture, treating popular culture objects as products which are created, manufactured, distributed and consumed. This means that our focus will be on the people, activities, organizations and institutions that are involved in the production of popular culture (a sociological approach). Although we will consider how these factors influence the content of popular culture objects, we will not attempt to interpret the meaning of popular culture (the humanist approach). Furthermore, we will be more concerned with understanding how society influences popular culture, and not how popular culture effects society (the mass communications approach).

As the course progresses, you will see how the markets and audiences for popular culture are socially stratified, that is, separated into groups of people with different social characteristics like age or race. For example, social class and power are associated with aesthetics and taste, ie. how we distinguish "art" from "popular culture," and what we like or dislike. Because the quality of particular culture objects is judged to be "good" or "bad" according to socially constructed definitions, I will present examples from a variety of types of popular culture, mass media and fine art without assuming that some types of culture are "better" than others. In this course, jazz and professional wrestling are equally valid as subjects of study! You may disagree with others' tastes and opinions, but I expect everyone to be respectful and polite to each other.

Course Objectives

By the end of the semester, students will be able to: (a) demonstrate an understanding of basic sociological terms, concepts and theories for analyzing popular culture; (b) apply fundamental principles of social scientific investigation to the study of popular culture; (c) develop communication skills by participating in oral presentations to the class; and (d) interact with peers to complete collaborative projects.

Texts:

Greco, Albert N., ed. 2000. The Media and Entertainment Industries. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Becker, Howard S. 1982. Art Worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Additional Readings

The following readings are on reserve at Morris Library (1^st Floor). Some of them can also be downloaded from either JSTOR or ProQuest. Go to the Morris Library web page at http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/ to get instructions for using JSTOR and ProQuest.

Lull, James. 1987. "Thrashing in the Pit: An Ethnography of San Francisco Punk Subculture" in Lindlof, Thomas R., ed. Natural Audiences: Qualitative Research of Media Uses and Effects. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corp.

Andes, Linda. 1998. "Growing Up Punk: Meaning and Committment Careers in a Contemporary Youth Subculture" in Epstein, Jonathan S., ed. Youth Culture: Identity in a Postmodern World. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Peterson, Richard A. 1982. "Five Constraints on the Production of Culture: Law, Technology, Market, Organizational Structure and Occupational Careers." Journal of Popular Culture 16(2):143-153.

Hirsch, Paul M. 1972. "Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of Cultural Industry Systems." American Journal of Sociology 77(4):639-659.

Peterson, Richard A. and David Berger. 1975. "Cycles in Symbol Production: The Case of Popular Music." American Sociological Review 40:158-173.

Course Requirements & Grading

Weekly Assignment 10% Due every Thursday

Midterm Exam 1 20% Thursday, February 21^st

Midterm Exam 2 20% Thursday, March 28^th

Group Project 40% Topic Statement due Thursday, February 14^th

Presentations: Late March to end of semester

Paper due on or before Tuesday, April 30^th

Final Exam 10% To be announced

Exams: There will be two midterm exams which will include multiple choice and true/false questions based on lectures, assigned reading, class discussions and any other material presented during class (including videos!). The final exam will consist of multiple choice and true/false questions, most of which will be about the group presentations. It may include questions written by students for weekly assignments (see attached schedule), and should take 1 hour or less to complete.

Weekly Assignment: A short weekly assignment will be due every Thursday (see attached schedule). Some weeks the assignment will be related to the group projects. For the other weeks, you may either ask a question or make a short comment - a sentence or short paragraph is enough! - about the reading assignments, material presented in lectures, group projects or other aspects of the class. I may give you a question to think about or you could ask a question about something you don't understand. You could comment on things you thought were interesting (or boring), suggest different interpretations, or attempt to illustrate course concepts from your own personal experience. I will respond to your assignments as appropriate in writing and/or during class.

The weekly assignment will not be graded by the "quality" of your question or comment or writing: if you turn in at least seven out of the nine assignments, you will get full credit. Missing one or two weekly assignments will not hurt your grade, so late questions or comments will not be accepted.

Group Project: The group project assignment will be given on Tuesday, February 5^th. By the end of class on Thursday, February 7^th you will have formed groups of 3 - 4 students with similar interests. Your group must also meet with me by the end of class on February 7^th to have your topic approved. It is very important that you attend class on these two days in order to choose your group members and topic!! The groups that make the best projects are the ones with members who communicate frequently, so students who attend class regularly tend to end up in the best groups. Since you will also need to meet with your group members outside of class, keep in mind that students who miss classes a lot may be likely to miss group meetings a lot also!

You will submit a short topic statement describing your topic and plans for completing the project on Thursday, February 14^th. Each group will give a 20-25 minute presentation in class and submit a written research report of 15-18 pages. Presentations will begin in late March (around the time of the second midterm exam) and finish on Thursday, May 2^nd. Presentation dates will be scheduled by an in-class lottery. The group paper is due on Tuesday, April 30^th. Guidelines for each part of the group project will be given in the project assignment.

Extra Credit: Throughout the semester I will announce a dozen or more opportunities to attend cultural activities. If you want to earn a little extra credit, attend one of these event and write a 1-2 page reaction paper about it. You will receive +2% on your final course grade for each extra credit paper submitted. You may submit no more than 3 extra credit papers for +6% total. All extra credit papers must be turned in on or before the last day of class, which is on Thursday, May 2^nd.

Classroom Conduct Policy

Attendance, Tardiness: In the past, almost all of the students in this course have been juniors and seniors between age 20 and 23 years. To me, this means that you are adults capable of making your own decisions and accepting responsibility for your actions, so there will not be a formal requirement that you attend regular class sessions. However, if you miss class you are responsible for the material presented or discussed, which may included information that is not in the texts. If you miss class(es), I strongly suggest that you plan ahead to borrow notes from a classmate.

If you are late for class, I will assume that it was impossible to avoid and that you have a good reason for being late. If you are late, please be respectful and polite by entering the classroom, shutting the door and taking a seat AS QUIETLY AS POSSIBLE.

There is one exception to this policy, which is during the weeks of student presentations because it can be very distracting for the presenters. If you arrive after a presentation has begun, please wait outside until it is finished. If you miss a student presentation, remember that you are still responsible for the material presented and you will be tested on that material in the final exam. You should ask in advance to borrow notes from a classmate.

Late or Missed Work: Weekly assignments can only be turned in late for credit if you have a reasonable excuse for your absence. This means a doctor's excuse or other official document. Your grade will not be penalized if you turn in at least seven of nine weekly assignments. You are welcome to turn in late assignments in order to get feedback, even though you will not receive any credit.

If you are going to miss an exam, I expect you to either phone me or send me an email before the exam begins, or to have a doctor's excuse or other official document. Unless you have a really exceptional situation, you will have until ten days after the exam date to schedule and take a make-up exam.

Plagiarism, Cheating, or Academic Dishonesty: COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY REGULATIONS REGARDING PLAGIARISM AND OTHER FORMS OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY WILL BE UPHELD IN THIS COURSE. If you are not familiar with the definitions and consequences of cheating or with your rights, refer to your Student Conduct Code or see an academic advisor.

Be aware of plagiarism in every paper or assignment you write. Any time you use the ideas of someone else you must give them credit. You should put quotation marks around all direct quotations and cite the author at the end of the passage. If you are unsure of the proper way to do this see me before you turn in any work. Any work that has been plagiarized will receive a failing grade and may be turned in to the university as a violation of the student code of conduct.

Dropping the Course: If you decide to drop this course, you must officially withdraw from the course. Students who stop attending the course and who do not officially drop the course will get a failing grade, although I will consider giving an Incomplete grade under exceptional circumstances.

SOC 306I Popular Culture in Society

Schedule of Topics and Readings for Fall 2001

Weekly Assignment Schedule

1/17 Question or Comment

Submit a question or comment about the materials presented in lectures or readings. A sentence or short paragraph is enough, but do try to put some thought into it. I may give you a question to think about or you could ask a question about something you don't understand. You could comment on things you thought were interesting (or boring), or suggest different interpretations and/or speculate about how concepts or theories can be applied. I will return the question or comment to you with a written response, and sometimes I will answer or discuss your weekly assignments during class. The weekly assignment will not be graded by the "quality" of your question or comment or writing: if you turn in at least seven out of the nine assignments, you will get full credit.

1/24 Question or Comment

1/31 Question or Comment

2/7 List of group members' names and possible topic ideas - done in class.

2/14 Group Project Topic Statement due

2/21 No assignment - Midterm Exam 1

2/28 Question or Comment

3/7 Question or Comment

3/14 No class - Spring Break

3/21 Question or Comment

3/28 No assignment - Midterm Exam 2

4/4 Multiple choice question

4/11 Multiple choice question

4/18 Multiple choice question

4/25 Multiple choice question

5/2 No assignment - course evaluations