Sociology (SOCI) 378

Overview

SOCI 378 students investigate the role of media in the shaping and/or making of social issues. The course examines a range of theories about media effects, and how media constructions, ideological positions, and media struggles inform the public’s conception of a particular social issue. In part, the course deals with the ways in which organizations, institutions, and interest groups attempt to gain access to the media and how these attempts shape the entire debate.

Objectives

Upon completion of SOCI 378 students should be able to achieve the following course learning objectives:

Discuss the significance of mass media in contemporary democratic society.

Identify the key role that media play in shaping and organizing public discourse.

Apply a critical sociological imagination to assessing the role of mass media in our society.

Discuss the role of propaganda in a democratic society.

Explain what is meant by "media power" and the relationship of this term to issues of ownership and control.

Explain why the media cover social movements the way they do, and why social movements attempt to use the media.

Outline

Part I: Introduction to the Study of Activism, Media Power, and Communication in a Democratic Society

Unit 1: What is the Critical Analysis of Mass Media?

Unit 2: The Critical Sociological Imagination and Social Analysis

Unit 3: Social Movements and Democracy

Unit 4: Social Movements and Democratic Communication

Unit 5: Issues of Ownership and Control

Unit 6: Propaganda and Consent

Part II: Theories of Mass Media

Unit 7: Effects Research I: Administrative Theories of Media in Society

Unit 8: Effects Research II: Functionalist Theory

Unit 9: The Emergence of a Critical Alternative: European Theory

Unit 10: A Critique of Media Technology: Grant, Innis, McLuhan, Menzies, and the Canadian Tradition

Unit 11: Class Analysis I: Cultural Studies and Discourse Analysis

Unit 12: Class Analysis II: Political Economy of Mass Communication

Unit 13: Gender: Feminist Approaches to Mass Media

Part III: Mass Media Construction of Social Issues

Unit 14: The Environmental Movement: Competing Media Strategies

Unit 15: Mass Media and the Labour Movement: A Hegemonic Discourse?

Unit 16: Media and Racial/Ethnic Equity Movements

Unit 17: Mass Media and the Struggle for Sexual Equality

Unit 18: Media and Gay/Lesbian Equity Movements

Unit 19: Mass Media, War, and the Peace Movement

Evaluation

To receive credit for SOCI 378, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least "D" (50 percent), a grade of at least 60 percent on the final assignment, and 60 percent on the mid-term, take-home exam. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Assignment 1	Mid-term Exam	Assignment 2	Assignment 3	Total
20%	30%	25%	25%	100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.