Mass Media and Children. Influence of the media on children's development. Includes problems of studying socialization effects, media usage patterns, functions of the media, effects on family interaction, social class and race, political socialization, sexual behavior, consumer behavior, music, and aggression. Public Information Campaigns. Exploration of techniques and issues used in information campaigns regarding health, energy conservation, environmental protection, and other topics, and campaigns' effects on public knowledge and behavior.
Students conduct an actual campaign on campus.
Media and Social Memory. Examination of how media act as agents of collective memory and how such memories may be tied to issues of identity, community, and power. In addition to general theory and research in social memory, the course considers a few key events to illustrate how social memory has influenced and been influenced by different media. Mass Media Message Systems. Detailed sociological analysis of mass communication artifacts with publishable content-analytic research as the end product.