Course Resources Archive

This interdisciplinary module will explore the social effects of media and mediated culture in an effort to better understand the role of the image in our everyday lives. In particular, the module will consider the ways in which specific social characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, have been initiated, shaped and/or reaffirmed by the messages transmitted and received within society and culture.

a) media 'types' - film, TV, radio, print, internet
b) the media as the producer of the information society
c) media treatment of marginalised groups/themes (race, sexuality, age, gender)
d) media audiences/consumers; media producers (broadcasters, journalists)
e) media policy (legislation; guidelines; quangos)
f) the circuit of culture and production of knowledge
g) semiotics and discourse, the power of the image
h) hegemony & ideologies

i. Knowledge and Understanding
On completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate:
a) knowledge of how society and the mass media impact upon each other
b) an awareness of the different models whereby the mass media can be explored as differentiated modes of communication and affect
c) an awareness of the development of the mass media as a phenomenon in late capitalist society
d) an appreciation of the political, cultural, economic and social significance of the mass media
e) an awareness of 'the audience' as consumers of mass media

ii Skills
On completion of the module, students should be able to:
a) critically approach to evaluating evidence and theories.
b) assimilate, organise and synthesise information from a range of sources into a coherent argument
c) use evidence in developing and sustaining academic arguments

Staff/student contact: 16%
Student private study: 84%
Methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials, video

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.