Course Description:
Our course will consider the apparently inescapable force of American popular culture. We will begin by considering the terms "culture" and "popular," and developing working definitions for the purpose of our class. Our readings will help us question the role of popular culture in our lives, inform our general conversation, and provide us with a theoretical framework on which to develop our own ideas. As we turn to the second half of the year, we will consider the possibility of resistance and dissent, as exemplified in sub-cultures and counter-cultures, both historically and today. What is popular culture doing to us, what are we doing to it, and how (or why) might we change our relationship with this product of our society that seems to penetrate every aspect of our lives?
Course Goals and Objectives:
Our course will consider the apparently inescapable force of American popular culture. We will begin by considering the terms "culture" and "popular," and developing working definitions for the purpose of our class. Our readings will help us question the role of popular culture in our lives, inform our general conversation, and provide us with a theoretical framework on which to develop our own ideas. As we turn to the second half of the year, we will consider the possibility of resistance and dissent, as exemplified in sub-cultures and counter-cultures, both historically and today. What is popular culture doing to us, what are we doing to it, and how (or why) might we change our relationship with this product of our society that seems to penetrate every aspect of our lives?
Course Goals and Objectives:
- To identify and define for our selves what is popular and what is culture and what are the different facets of both in American society.
- To enhance communication skills through thoughtful discourse, study groups, conversations, both formal and informal, and through electronic and print media, where available. The student will develop an understanding of how language, media, and trends all impact and influence our perception of the world around us.
- To focus the mature student on thinking critically, listening with discernment, and communicating with power, authority and precision.
- To empower the mature student, through listening, speaking, reading, and writing more carefully, to be civically empowered. In so doing, the student will be introduced to the idea of evolving culture and the many different cultures that co-exist within the mainstream blend of pop culture here in the United States.
- To develop the ability to identify and evaluate the impact and importance of resistance, dissent and sub-cultures within the mainstream.