Time: Tuesday-Thursday; 12:35-1:50
Room: Pulliam 214
Instructor: Bill Lovekamp
Office: Faner 3425, Phone # 453-7622
Office Hours: T,Th: 9:30 am –12:00 and/or by appt.
Email: blovekamp@hotmail.com

I. Textbooks:

Howard Becker. 1982. Art Worlds; Diana Crane. 1992. The Production of Culture; and additional articles on reserve in Morris library.

II. Student Learning Objectives:

This course analyzes the production, distribution and reception of popular culture in the U.S. Popular culture is a commercial commodity, produced by a variety of industries and marketed by a variety of techniques. Consumption of different form of popular culture is integral to the identities of different groups in American society. Thus popular culture, both in production and consumption, can be used to illustrate fundamental sociological principles. At the same time, its effects on those who purchase it are the subject of continuing political controversy, making its analysis a fitting part of a liberal education.

Students in this course will be able to:

1) Demonstrate an understanding of the basic sociological terms, concepts and theories for analyzing popular culture;

2) Display basic knowledge of how popular culture reflects and contributes to social change;

3) Understand why attaching meaning to popular culture is sociologically problematic; and

4) Apply an organizational approach to analyzing the creation, production, distribution and consumption of popular culture.

III. Classroom Etiquette:

Attendance - You are expected to attend class regularly. Attendance is of critical importance as lectures will supplement textbook readings and provide additional information that cannot be gathered by reading the text. Excessive absences from class will negatively affect your final course grade. Furthermore, you should come to class on time. Walking into class late is disrespectful to both your instructor and your fellow students and will not be tolerated.

Missed Work - Late papers will not be accepted in this course. Any deadlines regarding written work or student meetings will be announced will in advance of due dates. It should not be assumed that you will be given make-up exams if you miss a test day. Exams missed because of serious illness, death in the family, or other serious emergencies (automobile breakdowns do not qualify), require informing the instructor within 24 hours of the class meeting missed. Work can only be turned in late if you have a very reasonable excuse for your absence. This means a doctor’s excuse or other official document. At that time, appropriate measures will be discussed to complete the course requirements. Otherwise, failure to show up for an exam on the scheduled day will result in the score of a zero.

Assignments- Any assigned work to be turned in must be typed or word-processed. Handwritten work will not be accepted in this course.

Plagiarism - You should 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 which could result in expulsion from SIU.

Readings - I will not discuss everything that your texts cover. I see no point in simply telling you what your book has already told you. However, you are responsible for all of the information I ask you to read. This means that if you read something that you do not understand, it is up to you to ask me for clarification. We will use class time to discuss and build on the readings. I write each lecture with the assumption that you have read the assigned readings for the day. In order to follow the lecture and participate in the class discussions it will be necessary to do the readings before coming to class.

Office Hours - You should make use of my office hours. If you have any concerns about the class I will be quite happy to discuss them with you. I realize some people feel uncomfortable speaking out in a group. It is fine to come and talk to me during office hours about issues that interest you. I prefer you interact with the class but speaking to me also counts as participation.

V. Evaluation:

Grades will be determined by two exams and a group project/presentations. Since students routinely have familiarity with popular culture superior to that the professor, they are expected to contribute routinely to discussion and analysis. The presentation of group projects will constitute a significant part of the course. Exams will count for 60% of your course grade and the group project, which will be collectively graded, 40%.

1) Group Projects and Presentations: Your group projects and presentations will form a significant part of the course. Each group will consist of 4-5 students, responsible for a presentation of 20-25 minutes in class as well as a 10 page written report and 3 multiple choice questions for the second exam. Groups will be organized in class as the semester progresses around topics of common interest. Presentations may range from debates, to research reports, to demonstrations.
Some presentations will hopefully make use of concepts the course introduces. For instance, we'll be discussing how conventions allow cultural items to be both easily produced and easily consumed by audiences. Presentations thus might analyze, say, the conventions of rap videos, greeting cards, monster truck competitions....and so on. Also of interest are the evaluative standards that groups of consumers use to distinguish between good and bad exemplars of a genre: what makes for good or bad rap, a good monster truck battle or a dissatisfying one?
Other presentations may debate popular culture topics. Pornography, for instance, is one of the fastest growing segments of popular culture. Is this something we should tolerate? Similarly, a lawsuit has just been filed against fast food companies claiming injury to health. Should this industry, like pornography, be regulated? Should NPR be supported by taxpayers' money? Is the reputed globalization of culture a good or a bad thing? Underlying each case are important issues of political philosophy, with which all liberally-educated students should be familiar.
Still other presentations will involve research attempting to answer interesting questions. For instance: Has Elvis become, in sociological terms, a minor divinity? How, and by whom, are the episodes of ER written? Do women consistently consume forms of culture different from men? How does Hollywood deal with the fact that only one in ten movies makes money? Why does Hollywood make only 300 films a year and how are the films selected?

2) Exams: There will be a midterm exam and a final exam. Exams may consist of a combination of multiple choice, true/false, matching, identification, and essay questions. The exams will cover chapters from the textbooks, lectures, and any other materials handed out during the course of the semester.

COURSE SCHEDULE:

week 1 14-Jan Introduction
16-Jan What is Culture Griswold Ch 1 "Culture & The Cultural Diamond"
week 2 21-Jan Griswold Ch 4 "The Production, Distribution, and Reception of Culture"
23-Jan Crane Ch 1 "Introduction"
week 3 28-Jan What are Art Worlds Becker Ch 1 "Art Worlds & Collective Activity"
30-Jan Becker Ch 2 "Artistic Conventions"
week 4 4-Feb Production of Culture I Becker Ch 3 "Mobilizing Resources"
6-Feb Becker Ch 4 "Distributing Art Works"
week 5 11-Feb Becker Ch 5 "Aesthetics, Aestheticians, & Critics"
13-Feb Artist & the Art World Becker Ch 8 "Integrated Professionals, Mavericks, Folk Artists, and Naïve Artists"
week 6 18-Feb Becker Ch 10 "Change in Art Worlds"
20-Feb Review
week 7 25-Feb Midterm Exam
27-Feb Market Segmentation Brooks, "Wayne, PA" from "Bobos in Paradise"
week 8 4-Mar Media Culture Crane Ch 2 "The Media Culture Paradigm"
6-Mar Status Groups & Stratification Crane Ch 3 "Social Stratification & The Media"
SPRING 11-Mar
BREAK 13-Mar
week 9 18-Mar Production of Culture II Crane Ch 4 "The Production of Culture in National Culture Industries"
20-Mar Paul Hirsh, Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of
Cultural Industry Systems, AJS 77 (1972) 639-659.
Peterson & Berger, Cycles in Symbol Production: The Case of Popular Music,
ASR 40 (1975) 158-173.
week 10 25-Mar Meaning in Culture Crane Ch 5 "Approaches to the Analysis of Meaning in Media Culture"
27-Mar Enarson, We Will Make Meaning Out of This: Women's Cultural Responses to
the Red River Valley Flood, IJMED 18,1 (2000) 39-64.
Mitchell et al, Catastrophe in Reel Life versus Real Life, IJMED 18,3 (2000) 383-402.
week 11 1-Apr Urban Cultural Production Crane Ch 6 "Class Cultures in the City"
3-Apr Regulating Culture Crane Ch 7 "Media Culture, Urban Arts Culture, & Government Policy"
week 12 8-Apr Global Culture Crane Ch 8 "Toward Global Culture"
10-Apr Class Presentations
week 13 15-Apr Class Presentations
17-Apr Class Presentations
week 14 22-Apr Class Presentations
24-Apr Class Presentations
week 15 29-Apr Class Presentations
1-May Review
week 16
Finals Thu. May 08 07:50-09:50a.m.