Sociology of communication; Basic concepts: mass media, new media (ICTs), mass culture and popular culture; Tracing history: from radio networks to ICTs; Theoretical Perspectives: Bourdieu, Habermas, Thompson, Baudrillard, Hall; Role of communication media in sociopolitical and cultural change: manufacturing of public opinion, media stereotypes and representation, ICTs and digital divide, censorship; Television studies: audience and meaning constructions; Popular cinema: utopia & dystopia, constructing national culture; Youth subculture: globalisation, localisation, glocalisation; Gender and popular literature.
Texts:
1. M. Warschauer, Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide, MIT Press, 2003
2. S. During (edited), The Cultural Studies Reader, Routledge, 2000.
References
1. The Polity Reader in Cultural Theory, Polity Press, 2004.
2. J. Fiske, Reading the Popular, Routledge, 2000.
