Time Schedule:
Walter Lance Bennett
POL S 306
Seattle Campus
Explores how society and culture are both represented in and shaped by communication technologies and media content. Media include film, advertising, news, entertainment television, talk shows, and the Internet. Explores how media represent and affect individual identity, values, and political engagement. Offered: jointly with COM 306.
Class description
Description: This course explores the broad outlines of society, politics, and individual identity with a focus on the media as agencies for representing our desires and ourselves. In particular, we will consider the qualities of public and private life in a society of increasingly personalized realities in which traditional ideas of citizenship are less central than our lives as consumers, and communities are being transformed into demographic lifestyle networks, all linked through media use. Branding and image making become the methods for delivering both politics and products tailored to the emotional tastes of individuals.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Texts: Joseph Turow, Breaking Up America (Chicago); Stuart Ewen, PR! A Social History of Spin (Basic Books); Lance Bennett, News: The Politics of Illusion (distributed by instructor); Simon Anholt and Jeremy Hildreth, Brand America: The Mother of All Brands (Cyan); Naomi Klein, No Logo (Picador). Additional short readings will also be assigned.
Class assignments and grading
Assignments & Grading: Three exams – two in class and one take home will count 75% of the grade. Discussion section participation will count 15%; Discussion questions are 10% of grade.
