Communication Studies (CMNS) 385

Overview

CMNS 385 students investigate the role of media in the shaping and/or making of social issues. The course examines a range of theories about media effects, and how media constructions, ideological positions, and media struggles inform the public’s conception of a particular social issue. In part, the course deals with the ways in which organizations, institutions, and interest groups attempt to gain access to the media and how these attempts shape the entire debate.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of CMNS 385 students should be able to achieve the following course learning objectives:

1. Discuss the significance of mass media in contemporary democratic society.
2. Identify the key role that media play in shaping and organizing public discourse.
3. Apply a critical sociological imagination to assessing the role of mass media in our society.
4. Discuss the role of propaganda in a democratic society.
5. Explain what is meant by “media power” and the relationship of this term to issues of ownership and control.
6. Explain why the media cover social movements the way they do, and why social movements attempt to use the media.

Outline

Part I: Introduction to the Study of Activism, Media Power, and Communication in a Democratic Society

• Unit 1: What is the Critical Analysis of Mass Media?
• Unit 2: The Critical Sociological Imagination and Social Analysis
• Unit 3: Social Movements and Democracy
• Unit 4: Social Movements and Democratic Communication
• Unit 5: Issues of Ownership and Control
• Unit 6: Propaganda and Consent

Part II: Theories of Mass Media

• Unit 7: Effects Research I: Administrative Theories of Media in Society
• Unit 8: Effects Research II: Functionalist Theory
• Unit 9: The Emergence of a Critical Alternative: European Theory
• Unit 10: A Critique of Media Technology: Grant, Innis, McLuhan, Menzies, and the Canadian Tradition
• Unit 11: Class Analysis I: Cultural Studies and Discourse Analysis
• Unit 12: Class Analysis II: Political Economy of Mass Communication
• Unit 13: Gender: Feminist Approaches to Mass Media

Part III: Mass Media Construction of Social Issues

• Unit 14: The Environmental Movement: Competing Media Strategies
• Unit 15: Mass Media and the Labour Movement: A Hegemonic Discourse?
• Unit 16: Media and Racial/Ethnic Equity Movements
• Unit 17: Mass Media and the Struggle for Sexual Equality
• Unit 18: Media and Gay/Lesbian Equity Movements
• Unit 19: Mass Media, War, and the Peace Movement

Evaluation

To receive credit for CMNS 385, you must complete all assignments, achieve a grade of 60 percent on assignment #3 and 60 percent on the mid-term take-home exam, and achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.