2024-2025 / COMU0003-1

Theory and analysis of mass culture

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

 Bachelor in information and communication5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : Germanics, research focus5 crédits 
 Master in modern languages and literatures : general, reasearch focus5 crédits 

Lecturer

Pascal Durand

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Less a precise definition and more a socio-anthropological concept relating to cultural practices, "mass culture" covers a considerable number of forms, media, institutions and challenges. This course consists not only of theoretically conveying the reasons for this apparently confused proliferation (with the help of cultural sociology, semiology and critical theory of the mass media). We will undertake a close reading of two series of objects : literary serials from 19th to 20th centuries and several theories of mass-mediatic visibility or celebrity (from Thorstein Veblen to Nathalie Heinich).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The course objective is to lay the groundwork for research on mass culture, using a two-pronged critical approach to the field, one relating to the products of mass-culture themselves, the other relating to theory, in the most diverse sense, which we will try to take into account. The theoretical presentations will be complemented by an analysis of cultural products relating to the field in question.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

Lectures and/or podcasts.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège


Further information:

Required reading of Alexandre Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (coll. « Folio », 2 vol.) et Pierre Souvestre et Marcel Allain, Fantômas (1910).

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam ( open-ended questions )


Further information:

Written ewamination.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Course head, Pascal Durand, lecturer, Department Media, Culture & Communication, Place du 20-Août, 7, 2nd floor, pascal.durand@ulg.ac.be;

Assistante
Caroline Duchesne
Place du 20-Août, 7, 2e étage
Tél. 04 366 44 13
Caroline.Duchesne@ulg.ac.be
Secrétariat
Tél. 04 366 32 86

Association of one or more MOOCs