ZURn4101 Culture and Media

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Iveta Jansová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Iveta Jansová, Ph.D.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Boris Rafailov, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 10:00–11:40 AVC
Prerequisites (in Czech)
TYP_STUDIA(N)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course will introduce students to a variety of approaches for studying the media and the way they operate culturally. Engaging the readings and assignments and participating in the discussions is critical for students to leave this course with a greater understanding of how and why the media operate as they do, as well as how they are both shaped by and contribute to the social and cultural formation in which you live. Part of this process will involve enhancing the student's interpretive abilities and critical thinking skills.
The purpose of this course is to provide a space in which students analyze and discuss the role of the mass media in and between societies through the lens of cultural theory. The goal is to develop critical thinking (meaning to question that which is most obvious), so as to discern how ideas and experiences are produced and disseminated through the mass media within and across cultures, and how specific cultural, social, political, and economic forces influence and inform these processes.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
- critique how and why media take the particular forms that they do
- critique culture as process, content and symbolic system
- analyse media content and how it is related to media forms
- explore how audiences relate to and interact with media and representations
- critique media content and its framing mechanisms/representations through an advanced cultural theoretical lens
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction & Culture as Communication/Communication as Culture
  • 2. STATE HOLIDAY
  • 3. The Culture and Civilization
  • 4. Individual consumption of the movie Barbie (2023)
  • 5. Group meeting and discussion about a group text
  • 6. Marxism/Marxist Critiques of the Media and Culture
  • 7. Structuralism, Postructuralism and Culturalism
  • 8. Media and Culture in the Context of CCCS
  • 9. Culture and power (from Althusser to Foucault)
  • 10. Identity politics and feminist theory
  • 11. Identity politics and class
  • 12. Postmodernism
  • 13. Wrap up and deadline for the essay
Literature
    required literature
  • A rotating selection of contemporary academic manuscripts topically appropriate
  • A rotating selection of contemporary documentaries topically appropriate
  • POTTER, W. James. Media literacy. Eight edition. Los Angeles: Sage, 2016, xxiii, 546. ISBN 9781483379326. info
  • STOREY, John. Cultural theory and popular culture : an introduction. Seventh edition. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, xiv, 289. ISBN 9781138811034. info
  • STOREY, John. Cultural theory and popular culture : a reader. Fourth edition. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009, xxi, 671. ISBN 9781405874212. info
Teaching methods
Lecture,
Directed group discussion
Collaborative group projects/presentations
Assessment methods
Attendance, homework and participation = 40%
Essay = 30%
Final Exam = 30%
SOUČET = 100% závěrečné známky
A 90+, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 65-69, E 60-65, F 59 and less,
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2023/ZURn4101