Image and appearance: the construction of values in the twentieth century
Proposed to be offered next in 1996
Joanne Finkelstein
8 points * 2 hours per week * First semester * Clayton * Prerequisites: First year Arts HSY1050, ENH1010, PLT1050, COS, PHL, ANY, CSY, VSA, CLS: 1010/1020
The subject begins from the assumption that a crisis in cultural forms and social values is inherent in the Westernised society. The subject will pursue the questions - who or what determines the prevailing value system - specifically, what role does the intellectual, the media, the marketplace, play in asserting prevailing values? Has the result of the inherent rupturing and dislocation of social values been an increasing nihilism and cynicism in the population at large? Has the difficulty of distinguishing between the appearance and the real contributed to a growing spectatorship and a loss of interest in participating in the public arena?
Assessment
Written (6000 words): 100%
Prescribed texts
Harvey D The condition of postmodernity Blackwell, 1989
Sontag S Under the sign of Saturn Vintage, 1985