Assessment: essay (1500-1800 words) [60%], preparing and leading a workshop in a small group [40%] [both to be attempted and overall pass required]
We live in a society saturated by the mass media. The majority of us engage with the mass media as a central component of our daily, individual lives. The media also play a significant role within culture and society at large. In other words, they are influential. Understanding the relationship between the mass media and society is a core topic of several academic fields: mass communications, sociology, political science, media and cultural studies. Drawing on these disciplines, this module provides students with a comprehensive introduction to some of the key approaches to analysing the media-society relationship. It will outline some of the ways in which the mass media can be theorised, explain how the media works within its economic, cultural, political and social context, and highlight some of the ways in which the mass media construct, inform and react to the broader social and cultural environment, and also how they impact on it. In particular, the module focuses on the following areas of mass communications research: media, national identity and cohesion; media effects; and the political economy and social responsibility of the mass media.

*Course content subject to change