Media Sociology

6 ECTS credits
151 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1009359BER for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Studenten die dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen, moeten geslaagd zijn voor minstens 30 ECTS-credits op bachelorniveau. Studenten communicatiewetenschappen moeten ook geslaagd zijn voor 'Communicatiewetenschappen I'. Studenten in een schakelprogramma, voorbereidingsprogramma of master kunnen dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen.

Taught in

Dutch

Partnership Agreement

Under agreement for exchange of courses

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Communication Sciences

Educational team

Jo Renate Bauwens (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
125 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

There can be no modernity without the media. There can be no media without modernity.

This course discusses ways of thinking about media and communication in modern life. The analysis of media and communications is connected with key themes in contemporary social theory. Issues as time, space, community, interaction, identity and signification are considered. Media sociology is not simply about studying the media. Rather it requires an understanding of how technologically mediated communication is bound up with wider processes in the modern world. The course draws on social theories and theories of mediatization.

The course is built around five topics:

the media and modernity: processes, consequences and contours,
the media and everyday life,
the media, the public and the private
the media and community,
the media and morality.

Course material

Course text (Required) : Mediasociologie, verplichte literatuur bij de syllabus en slides, Verschillende auteurs, Beschikbaar gesteld door Perskring
Digital course material (Required) : Slides, J. Bauwens, Canvas
Digital course material (Required) : Mediasociologie, Syllabus, J. Bauwens, Canvas

Additional info

Except for the reader, all course material (i.e.the slides and course) is in Dutch.

For more information, please contact prof. dr. Jo Bauwens (Pleinlaan 9, 4th floor).
joke.bauwens@vub.be -- telephone 02-614 85 81

Office hours: by appointment.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

The aims of the course are:

to provide knowledge and understanding of key theoretical debates and analytical approaches to the study of media and modernity,
to deepen theoretical understanding by reference to a range of substantive topics and different areas of media and modernity,
to develop intellectual skills in critical analysis and in media-sociological debates.

On a more generic level this course aims to contribute to the following learning outcomes of the bachelor of science in Media and Communication Studies:

students have specific knowledge and understanding of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions within communication scientific approaches to media and culture,
students have specific knowledge and understanding of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions within communication scientific approaches to journalism, politics and democracy,
students show insight in the position and mutual relations of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions within the discipline and in relation to other theories, methods, concepts and models in other disciplines (interdisciplinarity),
students demonstrate insight in the underlying human and worldview and (the historical development of) assumptions of the diverse paradigms, main theoretical currents, concepts and research traditions in general and their approach to the relation between media, communication and society in particular,
students have knowledge and understanding of historical and recent developments in media and communication,
students have knowledge and understanding of the structures, operation and processes of media and communication organisations, media and communication practices, and media and communication markets and their relations with media, strategic communication and marketing,
students have knowledge and understanding of the structures, operation and processes of media and communication organisations, media and communication practices, and media and communication markets and their relations with media and culture,
students can detect and analyse trends and issues within a media landscape and estimate their societal, professional and policy implications on the basis of a theoretical framework of reference and analysis linked to communication scientific approaches to media and culture,
students can detect and analyse trends and issues within a media landscape and estimate their societal, professional and policy implications on the basis of a theoretical framework of reference and analysis linked to communication scientific approaches to journalism, politics and democracy,
students show a critical attitude with regard to sources and literature,
students can critically and self-critically, with a long term perspective, from an interdisciplinary angle, and cautious of monocausal interpretations, gauge the impact of social, cultural, economic, ethical, technological, political, legal and other factors to communication processes,
students demonstrate an honest attitude, ethical stance and engaged position, permitting a relevant contribution to current scientific and societal debates,
students can – with guidance – learn and act independently, creatively, critically and entrepreneurially,
students demonstrate an interested, studious and inquisitive attitude and have an open attitude to life long and independent learning.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Each student gets one examination form with two questions on it. The exam is oral and takes 20 – 30 minutes maximum. Student have time to elaborate on paper the two answers to their two questions based on the reader, course and slides (except in cases of force majeure due to COVID 19-measures).

For example:

Explain the notion of ‘mobile privatization’. Who introduced the concept and what does it refer to?
How do Silverstone and Habermas differ from each other in their view on the role of the media in the public sphere?

Insight, analytical thinking, capacity to synthesize and to apply theoretical insights to concrete examples are crucial to pass the exam.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context