Face-to-face , first term, 30 hours of theory.

First term
Monday from 08:30 to 10:30 at 43 Botanique 3

English

Students will know key authors and approaches in the field of communicatio studies.

Students will be stimulated to apply key concepts in the field fo communication studies to modern-day communicative phenomena.

Students will be able to reflect critically on the role of mass media in their lives and on the way media are debated in society.

Students will also learn how to categorize different types of media theories and models.

Throughout the course students will be introduced in academic modes of thought and examination.

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This course provides a general introduction in the interdisciplinary field of communication studies. The following topics will constitute the core of the course :

• Introduction : classifying theories and approaches to communication
• Masses, Mass Media and Mass Society: all-powerful media?
• Studying the impact of the Media: short-term effects
• Long-term effects of mass media
• Media-determined societal transformation(s): Innis, McLuhan, Meyrowitz, Postman, Mander
• Communication as an interactive and reflexive performance
• Analysing media contents: approaches in the study of representation
• The emergence of cultural studies and the interpretive power of audiences
• Stuart Hall on communication, culture and society
• Habermas: transformation(s) of the public sphere
• The digital age: theories of the information society

This course follows a lecture format ammended with a series of seminars. Each lecture focuses on a specific fase or approach in the study of communication.

The lectures are supported by prezi-presentations. With regular intervals, we will make use of online tools for facilitating in-class interaction such as Mentimeter.

In addition to the classic lecture format, students will be prompted to ask their questions in-class. They will also be given the opportunity to formulate questions on a FaceBook channel dedicated to this course.

The course also comprises a series of seminars in which students will be prompted to develop a deeper understanding of key notions and approaches seen in class. Students will be able to attend six seminars in three parallel groups. Seminars will also be used to familiarize students with the mode of examination.

Students will have a reader with selected texts at their disposal. These provide background for the classes. Most - but not all - information presented in class can be found in these texts as well.

Students are expected to read these texts and to study them alongside their notes and the prezi-presentations.

We will use a written exam.

Recommended reading will be provided in the form of a reader that will be made available to the students in two parts.

PART 1 of the reader contains the following texts

Raymond William's Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society.
• The entries on ‘communication' and ‘media' provide an overview of the historical development of these terms

Kellner & Gigi Durham's Adventures in Media and Cultural Studies: introducing the KeyWorks

• This article provides a broad overview of the field of media and cultural studies as well as a historical contextualization of various approaches.
• The article also contains a useful take on the status of ‘theory' in communication and cultural studies.
• At the end of the course you should be able to re-construct this broad historical and theoretical overview.

Dennis McQuail's Mass Communication Theory (6th edition).
• Chapter 1: pages 10-20 cover different types of media theory and different dimensions of communication introduced in class
• Note that there are some distinctions that are only discussed / mentioned in the presentation.


Dennis McQuail's Mass Communication Theory
• Chapter 3: Concepts and models for Mass Communication - this chapter provides information on the notion of ‘mass' in mass communication theory. It also deals with ‘models of communication' that will be discussed later on.

Paddy Scannell's Media and Communication
• Chapter 2: Mass Communication: Horkheimer, Adorno, Brecht and Benjamin - Germany / USA 1930's and 1940's

Clark McPhail's article entitled Blumer's theory of collective behaviour: the development of a non-symbolic interaction explanation
• This article traces down the development of the notions ‘crowd' and ‘mass' as discussed in class.


Dennis McQuail's Mass Communication Theory
• Chaper 17: Processes and models of media effects: 455-462 (the section titled ‘The natural history of media effect research and theory: four phases)

Hobbs (Renee) and McGee (Sandra). Teaching about Propaganda: an examination of the historical roots of media literacy. In: Journal of Media Literacy education . Vol. 6 (2), pp. 56-67.
• This article provides an introduction into early notions of propaganda and reflects on the relationship between propaganda and media literacy.

Paddy Scannell's Media and communication

• Chapter 1: Mass communication: Lazarsfeld, Adorno, Merton
• Chapter 3: The end of the masses: Lazarsfeld, Riesman and Katz


McCombs (Maxwell). A look at agenda-setting: past, present and future. In: Journalism studies. Vol.6 (4), 2005, 543-557.

Borah (Porismita). Conceptual issues in framing theory: a systematic examination of a decade's literature. In: Journal of Communication. Vol. 61, 2011, pp.246-263.

Dennis McQuail's Mass Communication Theory
• Chapter 19: News, Public Opinion and Political Communication - only the sections on ‘framing effects', ‘agenda setting', ‘priming', ‘spiral of silence', and ‘propaganda and war' are obligatory reading.

Dennis McQuail's Mass Communication Theory
• Chapter 18: Socio-cultural effects - only the sections on ‘socialization', ‘social control and consciousness formation' and ‘cultivation' are obligatory readings.


Paddy Scannell's Media and communication
• Chapter 5: communication and technology: Innis, McLuhan - Canada 1950's - 1960's

Paul Hodkinson's Media, culture and society: an introduction
• Chapter 2: Media technologies

PART 2 of the reader will include a similar selection of texts.