This course examines various forms of popular culture including media, subcultures, art, and consumer culture. We will begin the course with an examination of the definition of popular culture and how cultural texts, artifacts, and behavior come to be seen as popular. Then we will focus on sociological theories that will guide our understanding of popular culture.

In this course we will venture into social and cultural research on popular music. What is popular music? Depending on who you ask, popular music refers to two different things: one group say popular music is defined by the way it is mass-produced and mass-consumed; another group tell us to focus on the styles, subcultures, and politics that give music its meaning. Beginning with research into just what qualifies certain music as popular, we will look at economic, legal, and industrial practices that affect the quantity—and quality—of popular music. Following this look at the social production of music, we then turn to the music itself. We will consider the symbolic qualities of music, and how symbolism helps fans construct and maintain an identity. To conclude we will consider music as an independent variable in the story of social life. What does it mean for sociological research to put music first, before worrying about how it is made or what it means? How does this new research reflect changes in the production and consumption of popular music? And what does it do to the very meaning of popular music?

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Requirements class fulfills