Sociology 115: Media & Popular Culture Matt Kaliner (kaliner@fas.harvard.edu) Lecture 1: Welcome & Overview September 1, 2016 Office Hours: By appointment this week Or stop by WJH 404

Course goals Provide an overview of current theory and research on media and popular culture;

Studying older technologies helps to put current issues in context

But, do analogies across times and technologies always work? What similarities or differences can you identify across these images? What do you think matters more for society?

…A balance between the extremes…. Cultural theory ….and….. Tabloids Focus on empirical research

Course goals Provide an overview of current theory and research on media and popular culture; and Create opportunities for students to engage with, respond to, extend, and critique existing research via their own guided study and analysis, developing their own skills and creativity as researchers.

What kind of projects? Alone Together? Documenting media use in public space

Alone Together, 2016 edition: Pokemon Go

Viral Media

Production of Culture How does culture change? What enables or constrains change? What is new today? Is everything simply a remix or repackaging of past tropes?

What is Sociology? Discipline of Looking? No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen? Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer? Read your fate, see what is before you, and walk on into futurity.

Discipline of Looking? No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen? Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer? Read your fate, see what is before you, and walk on into futurity. Henry David Thoreau

Course goals Summarized Provide an overview of current theory and research on media and popular culture; and Create opportunities for students to engage with, respond to, extend, and critique existing research via their own guided study and analysis, developing their own skills and creativity as researchers. Sociology is not just a bundle of ideas, but a way of applying and evaluating those ideas on the social world around us. Popular culture & culture = materials to study are ubiquitous. Learning draws equally from reading, lecture, section discussion, and structured research projects

What kind of topics? class and cultural consumption organizational, political, and economic dynamics of cultural production and reception, impact of information networks on social structure and social development, ’trends,’ co-optation and subversion of dominant cultural forms power of advertising and mass media, socio-historical rise of different styles and art forms born digital? Adolescence online..

…And social change – social dynamics The social impact of media on society? How do culture and media change? How does social structure impact cultural production?

Class schedule Media effects Technology and media today Week 1. Overview: Impact of new media, sociological approaches Week 2. The Autonomy of Culture, or the Culture of Autonomy? Week 3. Production of Culture Perspective Week 4. Reception of Culture Week 5. How Does Media Affect Individual Behavior? Week 6. Viral campaigns, past and present. Week 7. Tearing us apart or bringing us together? New media and social ties Week 8. Culture as Class Warfare Week 9. The Rise and Fall of the Snob? Week 10. Subcultures: Culture and Group Identity in Contemporary America Week 11. Cultural Conflict & Controversy Week 12. Growing up online Week 13. Remix Culture and the Future of Participatory Media. Sociological approaches to popular culture Media effects Art and culture as sources of social division and group identity Technology and media today

Consistent Focus Skeptical approach to media effects and culture Emphasis on research and evaluation How does media effect society and vice versa? Autonomy of culture – production and consumption structures create their own dynamics Harder to argue that media or culture merely reflect society

Unfollow Megan Phelps-Roper

Unfollow Megan Phelps-Roper

Technology in the Classroom Your thoughts?? What is appropriate in a class about media? Any class? What does the research say?

Requirements Four short (4-5 page) research-response papers distributed across the term (12.5% each). All papers include opportunities to evaluate ideas by comparison with observational data or via applications. Topics to be released ~10 days before deadlines. Research proposal (2-3 pages, 5%) and research paper (12 pages, 25%) due the December 17. Section participation and class attendance (20%) [No exams]

Our obligations: Independent thinking Intellectual engagement Social engagement Clear thinking Commitment Sensitivity

FAQ Laptop/tech in class? Pass/fail? Section schedule? Not Ok, short of a documented need Pass/fail? Ok if you agree to complete 100% of what is required Pass/fail = fully participating in class without the stress of the grade. Section schedule? All sections meet after lectures conclude for the week Thursday afternoon (eg. 2-3, 3-4, 4-5) and/or Friday mid-day (11-12, 12-1) If you can’t make this these times, please talk to me asap. Can I take this as a first-year? YES. Equally good for seniors. Office hours? WJH 404: I want 100% of you to visit at least once. Anything else?

TUESDAY: McLuhan and the Selfie Stick