Youth Culture, Media and Society (U02934)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : SPS-3-YCMS

This course will explore sociological understandings of youth cultures, tracing the socio-historical factors which facilitated the development of the modern youth market and critically evaluating the ways in which sociology has theorised the relationship between young people, popular culture and 'old' and 'new' media. Themes covered by the course include: young people and the mass media, young people, TV and film, cultural representations of youth style and gender identities, subcultural groups and ethnic identities, youth cultures and music scenes, young people and new technologies and global and local youth cultures. The course will also look beyond youth culture in a critical examination of the notions 'generation' 'Postsubcultural youth' and 'neo-tribe'.

Students will be encouraged to develop a critical understanding of the main sociological theories and concepts which have been forwarded in an attempt to explain the relationship between youth and popular culture, and to make connections with how the themes and issues covered in this course feed into wider sociological debates concerning issues such as: the significance of consumption in late modern society, the role of the media in the construction of social 'reality', the unstable and shifting nature of 'identity' in contemporary social settings and the relationship between the 'local' and the 'global'.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Sociology, (School of Social and Political Studies, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
10/01/2008	11:10	13:00	Room G.09, William Robertson Building	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Having completed this module, students should:

- Understand how youth cultures have been approached as sociological objects of study

- Have a clear understanding of the socio-historical factors which facilitated the development of the modern youth market

- Gain a critical understanding of the main theories and concepts put forward to explain the relationship between youth and popular culture

- Understand the ways in which youth culture is represented, shaped and constructed by the media

- Have an understanding of the relationship between gender identities, ethnic identities and youth cultures

- Gain an insight into how the themes and issues covered in the course feed into wider sociological debates concerning issues such as the significance of consumption in late modern society; the role of the media in the construction of social 'reality'; the unstable and shifting nature of 'identity'; in contemporary social settings; the relationship between the 'local' and the 'global'.