Undergraduate - UnitATS3450 - Media, culture, power

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Offered	Berwick Second semester 2012 (Day) Gippsland Second semester 2012 (Day) Gippsland Second semester 2012 (Off-campus) Sunway Second semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Fleur Gabriel

Notes

Previously coded COM3411

Synopsis

The unit reviews different accounts of the relations between media, power and popular opinion. It does this by summarizing dominant theoretical frameworks of power (conservative, liberal democratic, Marxist and post-structuralist) and the related conceptions of society and culture within which accounts of media and opinion formation have been framed. It identifies how these have worked with different conceptions of 'the individual', 'the people' and 'the public'. Media and popular opinion are discussed in terms of the development of strategies for the regulation of social relations, and the formation and guidance of individual capacities.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this Unit students are expected to be able to:

Demonstrate a basic understanding of the significance of the relations between media, power and popular opinion.
Recognise, identify and describe the assumptions and arguments making up theoretical approaches canvassed in the Unit.
Demonstrate a capacity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of theoretical approaches canvassed in the Unit.
Demonstrate a capacity to analyse media and cultural texts by applying different theoretical approaches.
Demonstrate a basic understanding of the role of media in the formation of popular opinion, and its status as an artefact (rather than simply an expression) of the social relations of power.