Undergraduate Course: Popular Culture and Society, 1880-1980 (ECSH10090)
Course Outline
School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
Home subject area | Economic and Social History |
Other subject area | None |
Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
Course description | Popular culture ¿ defined here as the accumulated store of leisure activities and media content that a considerable amount of people has a stake in ¿ was an increasingly important feature of 20th century Western societies. Ever more time and a growing share of people¿s incomes were allotted to the consumption of popular culture. Popular culture was distributed around the world, was celebrated and castigated, came to be seen as a marker of identity and status, a factor of modernization and social integration, and a mirror of values, norms and beliefs.
The course intends to give both a general overview over key trends in the history of popular culture from the late 19th to the late 20th century and introduce students to central debates in historical and social scientific research on the topic. Looking at evidence from different realms of popular culture such as popular music, cinema, advertising and sport in Britain, the US and Germany, the lectures and seminars take technological and regulatory caesura as an orientation and discuss prominent aspects of the relationship between popular culture and society. Keeping in mind the questions of cultural change and the societal effect of popular culture, the course covers aspects from leisure and social control to the globalization of popular culture, state interference with culture and pop as a medium of identity. This will be done on the basis of key historiographical and sociological readings and presentations of sources.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503783). |
Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | Standard VS pre-reqs for this level in this Subject Area |
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV2)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 24 |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
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Lecture Hours 9,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
170 )
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Additional Notes |
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Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Exam Information |
Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Popular Culture and Society, 1880-1980 | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. An in-depth knowledge of a relevant subject in 20th century Western history.
2. An ability, independently, to identify and pursue research topics and relevant theoretical questions in the fields touched upon in the seminar.
3. An understanding of different conceptual approaches to the study of history, and an understanding of the strengths and limits of theoretical approaches.
4. An ability to analyse and contextualize primary source material and to arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented and properly referenced conclusions in their essay.
5. Their skills in group discussion and their written, analytical and theoretical skills in essay writing. |
Assessment Information
- One 3,000-word essay, (40% of the overall mark)
- One written exam, consisting of a two-hour paper from which students are required to answer two questions different to their essay topic
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Special Arrangements
None |
Additional Information
Academic description |
Not entered |
Syllabus |
Not entered |
Transferable skills |
Not entered |
Reading list |
1. W. Griswold, Cultures and Societies in a Changing World (Thousand Oaks, 2004)
2. S. Hall, Notes on Deconstructing ¿The Popular¿ (1981), in: R. Samuel, ed., People¿s History and Socialist Theory (London, 1981), 227-239
3. R. A. Peterson, Why 1955? Explaining the Advent of Rock Music, in: Popular Music 9, 1 (1990), 97-116
4. R. Altman, Silent Film Sound (New York, 2004)
5. K. Hagstrom Miller, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age of Jim Crow (Durham, 2010)
6. C. Ross, Media and the Making of Modern Germany: Mass Communications, Society and Politics from the Empire to the Third Reich (Oxford, 2008)
7. A. Horn, Juke Box Britain: Americanisation and Youth Culture, 1945-60 (Manchester, 2009)
8. J. Nott, Music for the People: Popular Music and Dance in Interwar Britain (Oxford, 2002)
9. J. P. Kraft, Stage to Studio: Musicians and the Sound Revolution, 1890-1950s (Baltimore, 1996)
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Study Abroad |
Not entered |
Study Pattern |
Not entered |
Keywords | Popular Culture and Society |
Contacts
Course organiser | Dr Klaus Nathaus
Tel: (0131 6)51 1925
Email: Klaus.Nathaus@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Caroline Cullen
Tel: (0131 6)50 3781
Email: caroline.cullen@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 13 January 2014 3:55 am
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