Sociology of Popular Culture

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Professor Dustin Kidd
Department of Sociology,
Temple University

Office: Gladfelter 744 (7th Floor)
Office Phone: (215) 204-7766
Home Phone: (347) 563-6174

Email: dkidd@temple.edu
Office Hours: 10:40-11:40 Monday and Wednesday, or by appointment
Course Website: Available on Blackboard
Course Time: Mon/Wed/Fri, 8:40-9:30 am
Course Location: Ritter Hall room 104

"Each of us is called upon to take a stand. So in these days ahead, as we examine ourselves and each other, our works, our fears, our differences, our sisterhood and survivals, I urge you to tackle what is most difficult for us all, self-scrutiny of our complacencies, the idea that since each of us believes she is on the side of right, she need not examine her position."
(Audre Lorde, 'Sisterhood and Survival', keynote address at the conference on the Black Woman Writer and the Diaspora, Michigan State University, 1985.

Course Description
How could the above quote from Audre Lorde have anything to do with popular culture? Lorde is addressing the many inequalities that characterize American society and the importance of examining ourselves in terms of where we sit within these inequalities. Do we benefit or suffer? Are we privileged or oppressed? Throughout the semester, we will discover the surprising roles that popular culture plays in both constructing and resisting these inequalities and we will have to consider the ways that we participate in this system through the culture that we buy, the culture that we celebrate, and the culture we participate in.
The framework for this class is what I call the 'Double Matrix' approach. The first matrix is created by the intersecting lines of privilege and oppression in American society. These include race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability status, and age, but other similar lines exist as well and are also available for discussion. The second matrix consists of the many forms of popular culture, including music, television, film, books, magazines, and the internet-although again, other forms exist and are also available for discussion. The media-matrix of popular culture and the matrix of privilege and oppression in America intersect to create a complicated and powerful system of social inequality.
Some of the specific questions we will consider include:
1. How do children's books reflect racial politics?
2. What role do magazines play in the construction of femininity?
3. What are the consequences of sexual violence in music and TV?
4. How does popular culture contribute to class inequality?
5. What, if any, important functions does popular culture perform?
6. Is there such a thing as 'safe' culture?

Readings
Books (Available from the bookstore):
Privilege, Power, and Difference, by Allan G. Johnson (PPD)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling (HP) [Note: this book is easy to obtain, and used paperbacks should be widely and cheaply available, so you may want to look beyond the bookstore for the cheapest copy.]

Additionally, several articles will be available in the Course Documents section of the course Blackboard site, several videos will be used in class, and you will be asked to view some videos online outside of class.

Graded Assignments
Journal: 25%
Quizzes: 15% (3 quizzes X 5% each)
Attendance and Participation: 20%
Content Analysis: 25%
GSS Analysis: 15%

Journal: The journaling component of the course is very important because it stands in lieu of a larger set of tests and it ensures that everyone is prepared for every class. The journal should be written on notebook paper that is bound together with a simple folder. This allows you to turn your journals in periodically for me to grade, even as you continue writing new entries. Your journal will consist of a summary and response to each reading assignment. You will also be asked to write responses to the various films that are shown in class. At times, I will ask you to write a journal during class, so thought important thoughts will not get lost in the competition to discuss. I will occasionally ask to see your journals in class, which will serve as a homework check to make sure you are prepared for class. If you do not have a completed journal entry for that day, it will lower your overall journal grade. Each missed assignment will result in a 5 point deduction. In other words, you need to read for every class and complete a journal entry. Please resist the temptation to focus on the writing style of the selection, which offers little in terms of fruitful discussion (i.e. do not comment on how hard-to-read a piece may have been-focus instead on the ideas).

I will assign a GPA unit to each entry, using the scale below. All of those grades will then be averaged together at the end of the semester to produce your final grade for the class. You may write extra entries as ideas about the readings and theorists hit you. This will decrease the value of any single entry.

Grading Scale for Journals:
4.0=100%
3.5=95%
3.0=90%
2.5=85%
2.0=80%
1.5=75%
1.0=70%
0.5=65%
0.0=55%

Quizzes: There will be three quizzes in this class. Although much of the material in the course emphasizes critical thinking skills, there are some concepts and some data findings that you simply need to memorize and know. The quiz dates are listed on the course schedule. The information will be available from the readings, from the films, and from classroom lectures. We will discuss the quizzes in class during the prior meeting. Each quiz will consist of 5-10 objective questions (identification, true/false, multiple choice).

Attendance and Participation: This component of the course highlights the importance of the intellectual community we are building in the classroom. You are expected to be in all classes. Please come to class on time, with a copy of the assigned readings and your journal. Always bring your syllabus and other course materials with you. Attendance is taken at all classes and I will be grading your participation carefully, with high expectations.

GSS Analysis: The General Social Survey is a publicly-available dataset of yearly survey information. You can find a link to the GSS on the course website. This analysis provides you with the opportunity to analyze survey data that is relevant to the study of popular culture. You will not be conducting advanced statistical analysis. Rather, you are producing 'crosstabulations' of simple percentages. We will have a simple check/no-check assignment to prepare you for the datacheck, so that you get a chance to experiment, without being graded, before the official assignment. I assume that none of the students have experience with this, so do not be concerned about your own mathematical or computing skills. A full project description appears on Blackboard.

Content Analysis: For the content analysis you are going to compare two cultural objects using Schudson's 5 dimensions of culture from "How Culture Works." You need to choose two objects of the same media that provide a logical comparison. Your goal is to explain why one of the objects "works" better than the other. You will literally list Schudson's five dimensions and write a page of comparison under each dimension. Close the paper with a section on the significance of the comparison in which you take a stance on the comparison and argue why it matters. For instance, if you compared the Today show to BBC Worldnews and found that the Today show had less accurate or less in depth coverage than the BBC, then you might take a stance that most Americans are receiving bad coverage while only the small elite who have access to the BBC receive accurate coverage. A lengthier description of the assignment will be found on Blackboard.

Policies
Enrollment: Enrollment is solely the responsibility of the student. I will not expand the course size or sign students in.

Attendance: You are expected to attend all classes. I do not deal in excused or unexcused absences. Every absence is significant, regardless of your reason for missing. However, on 4 occasions only, I will accept a make-up assignment, in lieu of your presence in class. The make-up assignment must be of your own design, and it is due at the beginning of the next class that you attend. It should be the equivalent of a 2-3 page paper and it must go beyond a simple reading summary (as you've already achieved that in your journal). The make-up assignment will be graded in a manner similar to your in-class participation, but it will not be viewed as equivalent to actually being in class.

Classroom Community: We learn better when we know and trust each other. We will work hard the first few days to learn each other's names and to get to know each other. We will also foster community with occasional food, with small group activity, and through discussions.

Confidentiality: Students will often find good reason to share personal experiences in class. We will all share a policy of not confiding these personal experiences in a way that would connect the story to the specific person. In other words, let's respect each other's privacy.

Food: Eating and drinking is allowed and (if it helps you concentrate) encouraged.

Paper Guidelines: Papers should conform to ASA Manuscript Guidelines, as posted on Blackboard.

Extra Credit: No extra credit will be given in this course.

Prerequisites: No Prerequisites are required for this course.

Learning Needs and Disabilities: Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible (by week three). Contact Disability Resources and Services at (215) 204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Communication: I may occasionally contact you by email for class purposes. For issues pertinent to a particular class meeting, I will email no later than 5pm on the previous day of class and will expect you to have received the email before class. That means that if I need to tell you something for Monday, I will send it by Friday at 5pm and expect you to have received it by class time on Monday. In most circumstances, greater notice will be given.

You may communicate with me by email, telephone, in office hours, in informal meetings on campus, and in class. I only check email on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, before 5pm. Sending me an email with a question about an assignment does not absolve you from completing the assignment by the due date. Please do not call later than 9pm and please do not assume I will always answer my phone or be able to get back to you immediately. If I am traveling or otherwise not available, I may not get back to you until the next Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.

It is important for you to become familiar with the course website on Blackboard, know how to navigate it and how to access all of the available resources, and be able to submit assignments on the site.

Late Papers: No late papers will be accepted for any assignment.

Honor Policy
I expect you to uphold the University's Code of Conduct at all times (http://www.temple.edu/assistance/udc/coc.htm). When the honor policy is violated, you will receive an F for the course and I will open an investigation into your violation of the code of conduct. It is simply never worth it.

Regarding specific assignments:

Papers, GSS Analyses and GSS Data Check: You are encouraged to workshop your papers with other students, in and out of class. That means that you may have another person read the paper and discuss its strengths and weaknesses with you. They should not provide the actual ideas of the paper. You must cite any facts or ideas you receive from other sources, even if they are not in the form of quotes. Use quotation marks for any phrase over three words long that appears in another source. Shorter phrases should be given citations if they are unique to a particular scholar (such as, Bryson's concept of "multicultural capital"). The paper you hand in must be your ideas in your words, except where you are citing or quoting.

Journals: Your journaling should be original work, as it is a reflection of your unique thoughts and experiences. However, you are welcome to make reference to ideas you have gathered from your classmates or other sources, so long as you properly attribute them.

Discussion: Cheating in discussions is hard to do, but it is possible. I would consider it cheating if you presented the ideas of another student as if they were your own. For instance, if you were to have a conversation with another student outside of class, and then come to the next discussion and share the ideas of that student as if they were your ideas.

Tests: Tests will be taken in class. They are closed-book and closed-notes. Obviously, looking at your neighbor's paper is forbidden. You should, however, study with your classmates. This is a beneficial form of test preparation. If you have questions about the exam as you are taking it, please address those questions to the professor. If, in a pre-arranged agreement (rare cases), you take an exam at a different time or location, you are expected not to discuss the exam with other students until everyone has taken the exam and all tests have been collected.

Grades
I use grades to compare your performance to the ideal performance. Ideal performance is something just above an A. An 'A' for an assignment in this class requires consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements plus a substantial demonstration of creativity and originality. A 'B' for an assignment in this class requires consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements and some indication of creativity and originality. A 'C' for an assignment in this class would either 1) have consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements, but no creativity and originality, or 2) have some creativity and originality but an inconsistent attention to the details. A 'D' for an assignment would lack creativity and originality and miss several of the requirements. An 'F' for an assignment would fall short on all points.

If you wish to request a re-grade, you must do so within one week of receiving the paper. Further, you cannot ask for a re-grade immediately after the assignment has been returned. You need to take a day and consider why the grade was given.

Responsibilities of the Professor
To facilitate an educational experience with high standards that will provide fruitful knowledge for the students
To be prepared for each class
To grade consistently and fairly
To return assignments promptly
To treat all students with respect
In addition to Temple University's nondiscrimination policy, you should consider the classroom, my office, and any meetings with me that occur elsewhere to be safe zones, in which it is safe to express your views and experiences regardless of your racial or ethnic identity, your sexuality, your gender identity, your political views, your economic background, your religious beliefs, your disability status, your appearance, or the kind of popular culture that you prefer.
To abide by the Code of Conduct in the role of a faculty member, such that students are trusted and the instructor is trustworthy
To acknowledge, apologize for, and correct for any mistakes that might be made
To be available for outside meetings and discussions, so long as they are arranged reasonably in advance

Responsibilities of the Student
To enroll in the class through the appropriate university mechanisms at the start of the term
To come to all classes, on time, prepared for discussion
To manage her/his own time, so that all assignments are completed on time
To manage his/her own personal life so that all classes may be attended and all assignments completed
To treat the instructor and other students with respect
To be an active member of the classroom community
To communicate with the instructor about any special needs or concerns
To abide by the Code of Conduct in the role of a student, trusting other students and the instructor, and being a trustworthy member of the class
To show up on time for any scheduled meetings with other students or the instructor

Course Schedule

Wednesday, January 18th
Introducing the course
Introduction to the professor
Student introductions (who's in the room)
The Double Matrix framework

Friday, January 20th
Popular Culture and Domination
Reading: PPD Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2
Setting the Ground Rules

Monday, January 23rd
Privilege and Oppression
Reading: "White Privilege" by Peggy McIntosh and PPD Chapter 3

Wednesday, January 25th
Race
Reading: Frontline Special "A Class Divided" External Links-View Online

Friday, January 27th
Race Continued
Reading: Darnell Hunt "Making Sense of Blackness on Television."

Monday, January 30th
Gender
Reading: Michael Kimmel "Masculinity as Homophobia"
Video: Killing Us Softly 3

Wednesday, February 1st
Gender Continued
Reading: GSS Data Check Assignment
Introducing the GSS-GSS data check assigned
Submit journal entries to date

Friday, February 3rd
Gender and the GSS Continued
Reading: Jean Kilbourne "Buy This 24-Year-Old and Get All His Friends Absolutely Free"

Monday, February 6th
Class
Reading: PPD Chapter 4

Wednesday, February 8th
Class
Reading: Herbert Gans, selection from Popular Culture and High Culture
Case Study: Class Messages in Country Music
GSS Data Check Due-GSS Analysis assigned

Friday, February 10th
Class Continued
Reading: PPD Chapter 5

Monday, February 13th
Age
Reading: Juliet Schor "The Commodification of Childhood"
Video: The Merchants of Cool

Wednesday, February 15th
Age continued
Reading: Kiku Adatto "Selling out Childhood"

Friday, February 17th
Theories of Popular Culture
Reading: Michael Schudson "How Culture Works"
GSS Analysis Due

Monday, February 20th
Children's Books and the Reflection of Racial Politics
Reading: Victoria Alexander "Reflection Approaches"
Quiz 1

Wednesday, February 22nd
Children's Books continued
Reading: Pescolido et al "Culture and Conflict"

Friday, February 24th
No Class

Monday, February 27th
Sexuality in Music and on TV
Read: Thomas Linneman "Will and Grace"

Wednesday, March 1st
Sexuality Coninued
Read: "It's Your Gender, Stupid" by Riki Wilchins
Video: Off the Straight and Narrow

Friday, March 3rd
Sexuality continued
Reading: PPD Chapter 6
Submit journal entries to date

Monday, March 13th
Masculinity in Popular Culture
Video: Tough Guise, Part 1
Reading: Jackson Katz "The National Conversation in the Wake of Littleton is Missing the Mark" and "Katz: Source List"

Wednesday, March 15th
Masculinity Continued
Video: Tough Guise, Part 2
Reading: "Black Male Trouble" by Michael Awkward

Friday, March 17th
Intersections of Masculinity, Ethnicity, and Popular Culture
Read: PPD Chapter 7

Monday, March 20th
Sexuality and Music
Reading: "Where My Girls At?" by Rana Emerson
Quiz 2

Wednesday, March 22nd
Sexuality and Music Continued
Video: Dreamworlds
Reading: bell hooks "Gangsta Culture-Sexism and Misogyny: Who Will take the Rap"

Friday, March 24th
Sexuality and Music Continued
Reading: PPD Chapter 8

Monday, March 27th
Culture and Controversy
The Controversial Madonna Videos
Read: James Davison Hunter, "Media and the Arts"

Wednesday, March 29th
Culture and Controversy continued
Mapplethorpe and Serrano
Wendy Griswold, "The Cultural Construction of Social Problems"

Friday, March 31st
Culture and Controversy continued
Reading: Amy Binder "Constructing Racial Rhetoric"

Monday, April 3rd
The Question of Safe Culture
Read: Harry Potter

Wednesday, April 5th
Harry Potter and the 5 R's
Reading: Finish HP

Friday, April 7th
Harry Potter and the Functions of Popular Culture
Read: Dustin Kidd "Harry Potter and the Functions of Popular Culture"
Submit journal entries to date

Monday, April 10th
The Media
Reading: Robert McChesney "US Media at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century"

Wednesday, April 12th
Media Continued
Reading: Jonathan Rintels "Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?"

Friday, April 14th
Media Continued
Read: Michael Copps "The Vast Wasteland Revisited" and "Radio Deregulation: Has it Served Citizens and Musicians?" (Future of Music Coalition)

Monday, April 17th
Popular Culture as Resistant
Reading: Marjorie Heins "A New Use for Indecency"
Case Study: Comparing "Your Revolution" and "Video"

Wednesday, April 19th
Resistance Continued
Reading: Watch The Strand (http://www.strandvenice.com/)

Friday, April 21st
No class

Monday, April 24th
What do we do? Social Transformation and Personal Activism
Reading: PPD Chapter 9

Wednesday, April 26th
What do we do? -continued
Reading: Linda Stout "Principles for a New Organizing Model" and "25-Year Vision Exercise"

Friday, April 28th
What do we do? -continued
Reading: PPD Chapter 10
Quiz 3

Monday, May 1st
Conclusions and Wrap-up
Hopeful Hints in Popular Culture: Selections from Real Women Have Curves, "The Revolution Will Not be Televised" and The Notorious C.H.O.
Submit journal entries to date

Final papers accepted until May 8th at 5pm.