One of the most interesting things in sociology to me is the concept of Mass Media as an agent of socialization. Mass Media can be defined as any for of mass communication that is released to an entire culture/sub-culture in the hopes of reaching many people at the same time. Mass media includes but is not limited to, the internet, television, movies, magazines, newspapers, blogs, mass texting, etc. Keep your minds open about this and see what kind of mass media interests you.
STEP ONE:
Pick out a specific example of mass media that intrigues you. I mean more than just "oh I like blogs" I mean a specific example such as "wow that was an interesting commercial I saw on tv last night". Email me the example (either a link to the media itself, a scanned in example (such as a magazine ad), or for those who are technologically confused/limited/afraid feel free to just describe it to me. I just want to say yes this will work great or nope this won't work at all. See the weekly schedule for the "due date' (you aren't graded on this specifically but it does get checked off and goes into the overall grade at the end)
STEP TWO:
Begin analyzing your media example in terms of sociology. Start with the big categories, for example does your media have both men and women? Well then you might want to think about gender. Are there people of different ancenstral backgrounds? (fancy way of saying Race) You might want to discuss race and ethnicity. Are there clear differences in the wealth of the people/items/ideas? Then you probably want to discuss things like social class. Once you have identified your larger sociological ideas then you want to start to break it down. If you are discussing gender what terms are applied? What theories can you use? What are the consequences of this media item to our culture? You are examining the media for its sociological concepts and its application as a socalization agent.
STEP THREE:
Write it up all pretty like and send it to me as an attachment but the due date (see the weekly schedule). You will have most of the semester to do this assignment so that you have access to all your readings and notes.
WHAT IS REQUIRED
- A specific example of mass media. You may get it from wherever you want with the exception of it must be American media (ie no movies from India, commercials from Japan etc.)
- A 3-5 page written discussion of your media sent to the professor as an attachment to an email. You will describe/define the media as well as provide within the reference page the link, or scanned in photo etc. Basically I need you to be able to describe the media but I also want it as a reference in whatever form you received it. A specific discussion of how the media is a form of socialization as well as an analysis of the media using specific terms and theories from sociology. Also how does the media affect our culture? Does it influence our gender roles? Or social class roles? Our body image?
- A reference page using APA style referencing (see the research paper for the how to's and threats...I mean cautions about what happens if you don't cite your sources and provide the reference page)
HOW AM I GRADED?
Your assignment is worth 40 points and you are graded on the following:
- An approved mass media example
- A three to five page written discussion of the media including the following: introduction, discussion of the media as it appears, analysis of the media with specific sociology terms and theories, the influence of the media on our culture, a conclusion
- A reference page and properly referenced quotes and sources in APA style (minor boo boos are not a big deal but if you do not do this at all you will fail the paper regardless of how good it is you MUST reference)
- Proper grammar and spelling (again a few boo boos not a big deal but if your paper is written poorly I won't be able to grade your great ideas so be careful)
If you have any questions be sure to let me know. This is meant to be a FUN assignment so go to town! Be creative! I am happy to entertain any and all ideas for how to present your material. If you have an idea on how to do it differently please feel free to ask me if you can do "whatever" ok? ok! GOOD LUCK!