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Juggernauts of Popular Culture: The Internet and Consumerism

This course treats the study of society and popular culture as a vehicle for developing a range of intellectual tools that will be fundamental in students’ college careers. The introductory unit focuses on the meaning of the term “popular culture,” examines how social scientists treat culture as something that can be analyzed scientifically, and introduces a range of cultural “objects,” “arenas”, and “artifacts” that have been studied in recent years. The second and third units of the course are dedicated to deeper examinations of two societal phenomena that are driving forces in contemporary popular culture: the Internet and consumerism. Specific topics to be addressed in the Internet unit will include examinations of how people use the Internet, how it has altered (or replaced) forms of social interaction, and its impact on societal opportunities. Specific topics to be examined in the consumerism unit will include why and how contemporary consumerism is different from the consumerism of the past, and how this contemporary phenomenon—manifested in icons like McDonald’s and Disney—permeates and alters other social and cultural institutions.

Course taught by

Kelley Strawn