Popular Culture in Society

Sociology 306I
Popular Culture in Society
Fall 2002

Prof. Mark Schneider

Faner 3424 Ph3-7627

masch@siu.edu

Course Description: 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.

Course Objectives: Students completing this course should 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.
4. Apply an organizational approach to analyzing the creation, production, distribution and consumption of popular culture.

Assigned Texts: Howard Becker, Art Worlds; Diana Crane, The Production of Culture
Additional readings will be available on the course website.

Requirements: Two exams and a group project. 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.

Grading: Exams will count 60% and the group project, which will be collectively graded, 40%.

Dishonesty?: Evidence of academic dishonesty (plagiarism or cheating) will merit failure of the course and a charge under the Student Conduct Code.

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Course Schedule:

Aug. 20T: Introduction

Aug. 22Th: Art as Collective Activity

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 1-39

Aug. 27T: Artistic Conventions

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 40-67

Aug. 29Th: Producing Culture

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 68-92, 191-225

Sept. 3T: Distributing Culture

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 93-130

Sept. 5Th: Legitimating Culture

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 131-164

Sept. 10T: Regulating Culture

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 165-191
Hughes, Why Watch It, Anyway? NYRB 16 Feb 1995*

Sept. 12Th: Artist and Art World

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 226-271

Sept. 17T: Art and Craft Production

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 272-299

Sept. 19Th: Change in Art Worlds

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 300-350

Sept. 24T: Reputation and Canon Formation

Becker, Art Worlds pp. 351-371

Sept. 26Th: Review

Oct. 1T: Mid-Term Exam

Oct. 3Th: National (Core & Peripheral), Urban and Folk Cultures

Crane, The Production of Culture, Introduction

Oct. 8T: Market Segmentation: Life-Style, Identity, and Commerce

Brooks, “Wayne, PA” from Bobos in Paradise*

Oct. 10Th: Status Groups and Cultural Stratification

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 3

Oct 15T: The Production of Culture I

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 4

Oct. 17Th: The Production of Culture II

Paul Hirsch, Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of Cultural Industry Systems, AJS 77 (1972) 639-659*
Peterson and Berger, Cycles in Symbol Production: The Case of Popular Music, ASR 40 (1975) 158-173*

Oct. 22T: Is What Cultural Items Mean Important?

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 5

Oct. 24Th: The Organization of Urban Cultural Production

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 6
Ratliff, The Best Jazz Player You’ve Never Heard*

Oct. 29T: Regulating Culture

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 7

Oct. 31Th: Global Culture

Crane, The Production of Culture, Chapter 8

Nov. 5T: Class Presentations

Nov. 7Th: Class Presentations

Nov. 12T: Class Presentations

Nov. 14Th: Class Presentations

Nov. 19T: Class Presentations

Nov 21Th: Class Presentations

Nov. 26T: Thanksgiving

Nov. 28Th: Thanksgiving

Dec. 5T: Review

Dec. 7Th: Second Exam

*Readings marked with an asterisk will be available on the course WebCT site.

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Presentations: Your group 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 15 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. All topics must be approved beforehand.
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, while Bollywood (supposedly) makes 3000?

WebCT: This course will make use of the campus WebCT facility. Some of the readings will be available on our website, and we may use it to organize groups for presentations. You need to establish an ID and password for the WebCT facility and then log onto SOC306I. Here’s how to do it:
1. Go to http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu:8900
2. Click on Create myWebCT.
3. Follow the simple steps to create your username and password that allows you to access all your WebCT courses.
3a. Make a note of the username and password you’ve chosen! You’ll always need it to return to WebCT.
Now, to log in to SOC306I:
4. Click Continue at the bottom of the page.
5. Click Add course.
6. Under the left hand column: Categories , click Liberal Arts. Courses will be listed to the right. Go to the second page of courses by clicking on “next page.”.
7. Click on SOC306I on the right hand course listing.
8. Enter as your User Name your first initial and last name all connected in lowercase, e.g. mschneider. For your password, enter your student number. This is the only time you will use this User Name and Password. For all future access you will use the myWebCT ID and Password that you created in step 3. Click Continue.
9. Click on Return to myWebCT.
10. You should now see SOC306I on the left hand side of your myWebCT page. You can click there to enter the course facility.
Steps for logging on myWebCT in the future:
1. Go to http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu:8900.
2. Click on Log on to myWebCT.
3. Type in your myWebCT Username (not your first initial and last name, unless you set it that way).
4. Type in your myWebCT Password (not your student number, unless you set it that way).
5. On your left-hand side, you will see the SOC306I. Click on it to enter.

Note once again: When you sign up for your general WebCT account, you need to remember the ID and password you select for yourself. If you don’t remember it, you can’t get back into the facility and I can’t help you with the problem (you’ll have to go to IT in the Library). But you only have to log in for SOC 301 once. Thenceforward, you’ll have automatic access through your WebCT account.

Contact Information:

Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:00pm
Wednesday 8:00-11:00am
Thursday 2:30-4:00pm
Phone: 453-7627
Email: masch@siu.edu
Website: http://www.siu.edu/~socio/Mark_A_Schneider.htm