James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” and Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” distinguish between different forms of societal influence. “Where Are You Going, Where Have [...]
In Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House” and James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the primary interest lies in the representation of masculinity. Ibsen’s representation of masculinity is reflected through such characters as Krogstad, Dr. Rank and Helmer Torvald. In Thurber’s short story, his main figure is Walter Mitty. To adequately investigate [...]
Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper introduces thematic concepts of longing, isolation and deprivation. Gilman combines several aspects of narration to enhance the richness of this short story. Moreover, Gilman’s structural prose defines the narrator’s changing perspectives through dynamic uses of various sentence structure lengths, diction, and the convoluted details of [...]
Careful reading of Gwendolyn Brooks’s First Fight. Then Fiddle indicates a meticulously arranged construct of society and universal arguments regarding war and peace. The speaker of the poem demonstrates a [...]
Facebook as a Genre
Facebook can be seen as a well-received addition to the increasingly digital, “real-time” culture in which we live
As many Facebook users live in large cities where life seems to unfold at an accelerated pace, Facebook has emerged as an effective tool for maintaining social ties, keeping family and friends updated on the [...]
Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem, “First Fight. Then Fiddle.” suggests that music may be society’s equilibrium among “arms” (9), “armor” (9), and “war” (13). To the speaker, the fiddle is a significant symbol; for instance, “Ply the slipping string with feathery sorcery; muzzle the note with hurting love” (1). In the first line, Brooks conveys the idea [...]
Canadian Newspaper Ownership in an Era of Convergence: Failed Attempts at Regulation of Newspaper Ownership
Canadian newspaper conglomerates appear intimidating to their employees and stress a single way for editors to publish information which reinforces how powerful conglomerates are. Similarly, newspaper conglomerates emphasize the need for economical and political benefits disregarding potentially misleading articles. The central [...]
Organizational culture is the study of people in an institution whose shared values, norms and histories are intrinsically associated as part of the cultural framework of its respective environment. Organizational culture seeks to understand the web of cultural norms, values, and beliefs. Organizational culture is a mix of a variety of social sciences including sociology, [...]
Have you ever come to terms with a time in your life where you were so heavily involved in a group, or culture, that you came to value its objectives, goals and beliefs? In this environment, you are involved in a culture. No matter what kind of culture, it is the meaning-making system which you [...]
The idea of “fan” arose from John Fiske’s (1989) analysis of popular culture containing polysemic text. Polysemic literally means ‘many-signed’, an image in which there are several possible meanings depending on the ways in which its constituent signs are read. This polysemic analysis of text, Fiske (1989) allowed for “fans to construct alternative readings and [...]
Ethnic identities are interestingly and slowly being undermined by popular culture forms. This happens in two ways:1) newer generations being exposed to changing modes of communication, information accessing, and the distribution of capital wealth and 2) the effect of bifurcating the members of ethnic identities until the final result is a dichotomy representing the [...]
The prevailing debate regarding the effect of global popular culture industries (Globalization) on local cultures and local identities are significant today more than ever. The reason for this importance lies in the preservation of the traditional cultures and values that are carefully being sewn into the entanglements of globalization. The spread of capital across foreign [...]
Subculture & Fandom
Fandom doesn’t always apply to the geographical area
Invariably means a description of age
Not specifically talking about a collective appreciation of followings or forms, if we’re talking about subculture, we’re talking about the groove. We’re looking at the ways the groove articulate, formulate, and understand the object or fashion.
The communal concept of fandom is [...]
Critical theory and cultural activists, although opposed about how they effect the audience, they are in tune to the idea of the meaning of popular culture in the ways in which traditional capitalist systems mirror the use of popular culture today.
Defining Postmodernism
Concept difficult to define—has been adopted and used by many different disciplines.
Art
Psychologists
Sociologists
Geography
Basic premise for [...]
Frankfurt School
initially founded in 1966, home base was “The Institute of Social Research @ the University of Frankfurt)
Founded in the wake of the successful soviet union in 1917.
Firstly to observe the developments of communism through Marxist ideas, consider the developments of Marxism in western society.
Key theorists include:
Theodore Adorlo
Jurgen Habermas
Hebert Marcuse
All of them left-wing German-Jewish
Take the [...]
Observation Research: Definition
A combination of a first-person and a second-person account, which takes place in a naturalistic setting, of the actions and behaviours of a specific group of people
Most common in communications/cultural studies à is a participant observation (qualitative research)
Observation Research: Uses
Examine structure and functions of social formation
Learn components and operations from inside (functionalist)
Example
Actual operations [...]
Survey research : definition
Broad-based, qualitative and/or quantitative research which collects data through pre-formulates question in a structured questionnaire to a representative sample of individuals drawn from a defined population
main advantage is number of participants processed
response / data can be recorded verbatim or coded for statistical analysis
Survey research : use
Research intangibles
as with interviews and focus [...]
Interviews & Focus Groups: Definition
Types of intensive, qualitative research which generate data through directed, social interaction
interviews involve questioning an individual or group with expertise or experience regarding your subject
focus groups involve fostering discussion among groups of people with expertise or experience regarding your subject
Interviews & Focus Groups: Uses
Research intangibles
Intangibles = beliefs, values, attitudes, articles of [...]
Historical Research and Policy Analysis – Uses and Limits
Quantitative Research
Requires data which is numerical/statistical
Examples: Content analysis, surveys
Qualitative Research
Involves data which is textual/visual
Example: historical research and policy analysis
Remember
They are not mutually exclusive
Example: Lewis & Neville on Rosie the Rivetter
History & Policy: Definitions
“History” : “Record of what has happened in the past” and the past starts now
“Policy” [...]
Descriptive Statistics
Standard Deviation (S.D. or o)
Average deviation of each observation from precise centre of all weighted observations, but sensitive to relative weights of observations.
Indicates how dispersed points are from the mean
More precise than mean deviation; preferred.
Example:
David Demers….
N = 198 newspapers
M = 2.64 editorials
o = +/- 1.84
Range = 0 – 8
Standard deviation tells us that the [...]
Content Analysis – Univariate Statistics
Nominal:
Numbers assigned to categories to signify qualitative differences
Basically, nominal figures simply tell us that two things are different
Generated by arbitrary assignment of numbers to categories
No bearing to any objective or subjective scale.
Examples:
In sports, jersey numbers
In content analysis, used whenever content coded categorically
Hibbarb and Keenleyside
Ordinal:
Numbers assigned to categories to signify preferences
Basically, [...]
Design a sampling strategy
Relevance: Define what is a relevant text
What will you count?
What will you ignore? And why?
Selection Method
How will you select individual texts?
Random Sample
Every item has equal chance of being selected
Good if no significant differences in population.
Systematic Sample
Items selected according to regular pattern
Selects texts from entire distribution of population.
Example:
20% of stories in newspaper [...]
Content Analysis - Definitions and uses
Content analysis: “a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.” If something is manifest, its clear to our senses
Manifest: something clear and obvious
Content of Communication: the message
Manifest Content: any plainly recognizable message - i.e. words, pictures, codes, gestures (Such content can be [...]
Three Perspectives
Functionalist
Goal: enhancing the function of the main concern — multibake -> looking at productivity and profit of the company. make adjustments after seeing what the problem is. everything else is a variable (e.g. people). goal = efficiency and productivity
Interpretive
Focus is messages
Understanding culture
Outlook: academic — understanding the way organizational behaviours operate…
Critical
Focus is power
Is that power [...]
Research Perspectives
Perspectives that shape research in communications and cultural studies.
Different visual perspectives can generate very different sets of data about the same phenomena.
The exact same thing holds for conceptual perspectives (ideas, beliefs and values that shape the world according to what you think is important and what isn’t.)
As a researcher, you should be aware of [...]
What is Popular Culture?
A series of commodities, material items, demands some kind of cash relationship (materialistic economy).
Amounts to something more than entertainment leisure.
Popular culture –> ideological attachment.
Inseparable from our society, but not the culture; hence, it shapes society’s character.
Influences the way we look at the world; hence leading to academic interest.
1950s, social scientists [...]
Hey everyone who is in introduction to psychology, here are the notes that will help you succeed! I know the organization may be different than what you have on your syllabus, but it’s definitely the same content you’ll most likely cover in your course.
The exam review
Summary details of the exam review
A glossary of definitions for [...]
You can download Essentials for film studies here!
This is basically the syllabus for this course I took: Click Me!
Descriptions of short films I’ve seen back in the day are accessible here: Click Me!
This link to download will provide you with information such as camera techniques, and angles (transitioning, camera movement, camera angles and other intricate [...]
Principles of Research
Interdisciplinary field
No solid ground-work for field
Some scholars feel that communications research is bullshit.
Violent TV => Violent people?
Possible Problem areas for research
“Policy institute,” and “think tanks” is the integrity of their research at risk?
C.D Howe Institute (Right) vs. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Left)
Five Principles of Research
Systematic
[...]
F. de Saussaure:
Swiss linguist and expert in historical linguistics whose lectures laid the foundations for synchronic linguistics (1857-1913). Drawing from the original definition proposed by [Saussure] (1857-1913), a sign has two parts: As a signifier (i.e. it will have a form that a person can see, touch, smell, and/or hear), and as the signified [...]
