Cultural Studies Degree Courses

Cultural Studies Degree Courses: How to Utilise Your Media Studies A Level

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Under Development

Courses are being added over time. This is being published now to help AS student returners begin to consider possible courses as personal tutors begin to help you prepare personal statements and think about how to spend some time over the summer researching what you want to do.

Introduction

You are a student who has now returned from your AS exams as an A2 student: Suddenly the world has changed. This time next year you will be on your way to somewhere probably a higher education course. If you have studied subjects such as Media, Communications Studies, Art History, History, Geography, History, English, Film Studies or else contemporary foreign languages this could be the sort of course for you.

In principle Cultural Studies is very demanding for interdisciplinary work requires a lot of reading and a committment to working across different disciplines. But this work is truly fascinating and rewarding. It can give you real insights into the world and you will be surroundided by very enthusiastic students. If you are doing the current OCR Media Studies A2 the critical research unit is an excellent introduction to research methods for research is a practical and intellectual set of disciplines. My students do some secondary research and primary research including textual research, qualitative research and some quantitative research. This means that you will not only have found out something interesting about the chosen subject area but you will learned about the basics of research design. This is a enormously important skill which has many applications in contemporary society and can be used in a wide range of jobs and careers.

Below I have listed a range of some of the University Degree Courses in Cultural Studies. Often Cultural Studies can be combined with a modern language which is a very nice combination. There is no judgement being passed here on the courses, you must research them for yourself as all of them have different flavours and priorities. There may be sociological tendencies, textual tendencies, or other country tendencies depending on the range of expert knowledge available. The nice thing about cultural studies is that it is incredibly diverse and it can go into areas where other subjects dare not.

You will find that the useful online guide to university courses doesn't have an entry under Cultural Studies. This is precisely because of its interdisciplinary nature which means that it cuts across categories. It is suggested that you check out the results for the different departments that you are interested in which may contribute to Cultural Studies. The link here is to Media Studies and Communication however you may wish to look under sociology or the foreign language sector to get a better idea.

Where did Cultural Studies Come From?

The origins of cultural studies come from the educational corps that was established during World War 2. Several people who served in this were very keen on ensuring that the worling classes received high quality education and as a result they joined the WEA (Workers Education Association) which often provided Trade Unionists with the knowledge and skills to carry out their work more effectively.

Some of those who had been in the Army during the war were to become celebrated academics strongly associated with what was to become cultural studies. These include:

Richard Hoggart. Hoggart wrote aong other things the very influential The Uses of Literacy and established the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Raymond Williams. Williams had a genuinely working class background from a railway signalman's family in Wales. He rose to be a literature professor at Cambridge.

E.P Thompson. thompson became a history professor at the University of Warwick writin many influential social history books such as The Making of the Working Class in Britain as well as become a leading anti-nuclear campaigner.

Professor Stuart Hall. A Director of The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Birmingham and then Professor of Sociology at the Open University

These people were later joined by Stuart Hall who was a Rhodes Scholar. After running the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies based at the University of Birmingham he became professor of sociology at the Open University.

These scholars and activists between them made a hugely important contribution to British post-war thought and society and have spawned many more important thinkers, scholars and teachers who are now themselves professors of Cultural Studies or media related  subjects.

Cultural Studies Courses in the UK 2009

University of Warwick Centre for Lifelong Learning

Warwick University Centre for Lifelong Learning is offering either part-time day / evening routes for a BA in English and Cultural Studies or else full time course can be undertaken. Introductory modules in English and Cultural Studies are offered by the Departments of Film and TV Studies, History, Classics, Italian, History of Art and the Language Centre.

Day and Evening Study
It is possible to take the English and Cultural Studies degree on the basis of either day or evening study, or as a mixture of the two.  Each year the English department offers a full range of modules in the day and a selection on rotation in the evening so students may choose when to study.  The Language Centre offers modules for part-time degree students in the day and in the evening.  Film and TV Studies, and Classics offer a small number of modules in the evening and History has a good range of evening modules.  History of Art, German French and Italian offer modules only in the day-time.

Entry Requirements
There are no prescribed entry qualifications for the degree;  all applicants are normally interviewed by the academic co-ordinator in the Department of English.  The academic co-ordinator will look for evidence of academic ability and commitment and, in addition, for evidence of serious interest in the study of literature.  This evidence might be obtained from study of literature in an Access course, 'A' Level course, Warwick University Open Studies course or a less formal engagement with literature.

Please Note: The Kinoeye blog is in existence because of the author's connection to the Centre for Lifelong Learning. There is not going to be a pretense at impartiality for an institution which I think offers an excellent service to students and is making high quality education available to all who live within reasonable travelling distance. For those people who don't feel that they can afford to take a degree after leaving college with A levels this is an excellent way of continuing your education in a way which is financially manageable.

For those interested click on the image for the official page or contact: Flexible Courses Manager  -  024 7652 8100

University of Warwick History & Culture

All too often Media Studies can be dehistoricised yet a perception of the history and development of cultural studies including media cultures is very important. This degree provides an opportunity to develop historical knowledge and skills alongside the important skills of textual analysis which can be provided within the Department of Film & TV Studies. A wide range of departments contribute to this course and again broad-based thinking and mental flexibility are advantageous.

University of Warwick BA Sociology with Cultural Studies Specialism

For those A level students who enjoy aspects of social and critical research offered on a level media studies there are several areas here with which you might have started to become familiar. I have highlighted these.

This elective Specialism offers you the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of cultural practices and identities in everyday life, including how they are shaped by, and shape the social world. Particular aspects of culture are examined, auch as news media, photography, fiction, aesthetics of the body, and particular methods are taught, including the production and interpretation of visual imagery, memoi and fiction, and media reportage. This combination of understanding and skills acquisition is further pursued through a dissertation in cultural studies.

In Year One, you must take Sociological Imagination and Investigation and Media Sociology.

In Year Two, you must choose one of the following: Gender, Culture and Popular Media; Narratives of Disease, Death and Difference: The Sociology of Story; Visual Sociology; The Social Construction of Masculinities.

In Year Three, you must choose from one of the following, providing that the module has not already been taken: Narratives of Disease, Death and Difference: The Sociology of Story; Technologies of the Gendered Body; The Social Construction of Maculinities; Visual Sociology. In Year Three, you will undertake a dissertation in this area.

University of Lincoln BA Culture Media and Communications

Although a very new university there has been an impressive investment in getting well established staff and good resources. This type of degree provides an excellent range of opportunities to flexibly minded students who have A level media amongst thier qualifications.

University of Sunderland Film Media & Cultural Studies

In recent years Sunderland University has been gathering momentum and offers an excellent range of courses  within its  school of Art , Design, Media and Culture. This is how it describes what is on offer:

It is an exciting and important area with a very broad range of approaches. You will be able to select from a wide range of texts and practices including popular music, reality TV, cyberculture, and black popular culture, as well as Hollywood cinema. It also offers an exploration into institutions, sexual cultures, star systems, and celebrity culture, as well as audiences and sub-cultures.

University of East London Media and Cultural Studies Degrees

Webliography

QAA 2002 Report on Communication, Media, Film, Cultural Studies

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Audience Studies in Media

Audience Studies in Media

Introduction

This article briefly examines some of the main ways in which media studies has researched audiences rather than institutions or the texts themselves. In this sense media has many dimensions which might require different research methods in order to generate maeningful knowledge.  The areas of research covered are the construction of the pessimistic notion of 'mass audiences', the construction of audiences as market by market researchers, reception theory and ethnographic research approaches.

Audiences as "Mass"

The media has usually been associated automatically with the process of mass communication.  As Ien Ang has pointed out the concet of "mass" audience was particularly powerful in the first half of the 20th century. This is unsurprising as the new media technologies of the time, film, radio and then TV became extraordinarily popular very quickly. This was so much so that the boom in radio shares in the United States helped create the stock market 'bubble' which lead to the Great Crash of 1929. Many readers will be familiar with another media lead stock market buble the so-called "dot.com" bubble which lead to a severe "correction" in the stock market although a full scale crash was avoided.

The underlying logic of these bubbles was based upon perceptions of audience and mass markets which shows how the two terms overlap. Sociologists of the time such as Blumler in 1950 saw the rapid growth in media audiences as part of what became dubbed as "mass society". Audiences were conceived of as "masses" who absorbed "mass culture". There was an underlying implication that it was very much "passive" uncritical absorbtion of the content which was produced.

Blumler who was a powerful influence in creating the model of audiences at the time described the concept of "mass" in the following way:

1. Firstly: Its membership may come from all walks of life. This could include people from different classes and cultural and economic backgrounds.
2. Secondly: The mass is anonymous, being composed of "anonymous" individuals
3. Thirdly: There was little or no interaction or exchange between the mebers of these "masses". Unlike the crowd in the street they do not mill
4. Fourthly:The mass has no real organisation and is unable to act with the unity of a crowd.
   

Although this was meant to be a purely descriptive evaluation of media audiences as Ang points out:

...it is surrounded by many additional, evaluative meanings that are usually very negative (Ang questioning the Media first Edition p 157)

The negativity behind this model saw older concepts of civil society which helped people understand and contribute to the social world embedded in community and institutions like the church being weakened. Audiences were seen as passive, individualised or atomised taken out of thier social surroundings and therefore easily manipulated. Many people media theorists included thought that this situation left audiences totally exposed to the ideas transmitted by the mass media. This was particularly the case with popular forms of media such as films, TV and radio. this lead to what has been dubbed as the 'Hypodermic Needle' theory. This is a medical metaphor which relates to the power of doctors over helpless patients and assumes complete power over the individual, which soon leads us into another medical metaphor of "brain-washing".

Audiences as "Market"

The argument put forward by Ang seems increasingly outdated as globalisation and the accompanying commercialisation and consumer orientation deepen alongside the effects of digitisation and the Web. Ang points out that perceiving audiences as markets comes from this commercial context and is very much an American tradition compared with the Public Service Broadcasting ethos that has been prevalent in Britian and much of Europe until comparatively recently. Of course Ang also points out that audiences are seen as potential consumers for the goods and services advertised. One need go no further than lifestyle magazines such as GQ to see just how much that magazine is an almost total vehicle for advertising and integrally generating an ethos of consumption. The content and appraoch of these magazines is very much influneced by organisations such as ACORN. Companies like these exercise a lot of power in creating markets for goods and services by constructing an increasingly sophisticated range of categories, to fit in with more diverse lifestyle and identities.

See How ACORN assesses the area you live in:

upmystreet. You will neeed to type in your postcode.

Ang bases her criticisms upon the fact that the research methods used were quanitative ones just focusing on TV sets that were turned on and tuned in. This entirely ignored the subjective and qualitative elements of audience experiences. Cetainly we do not view ourselves as a 'market', we are however constructed as a part of a market. With the increasing fragmentation of audiences into a wide range of media forms and even user genersated content models of exactly what constitutes an audience are necessarily having to change. Nevertheless in an "On Demand" era of media (What you want when you want it where you want it) and the necessity to either produce a profit or provide clear value for money from PSB shows how sophisticaed the relationship between audience / market and the providers of media content / user generated content vehicles (MySpace etc) is.

Contemporary Online Media Targeting Audience

The BBC Online News  Service is a good example of how contemporary media institutions are adapting to the changing parameters of media because of digitisation and the expontential growth of the internet. The BBC has always aimed to have a global audience because it developed as an institution in the waning days of the British Empire which until the post war era still controlled more land mass than any other country. The use of the World Service partially funded by the Foreign Office was the main arm for this global extension. In the era of globalisation the importance of media is still fundamental. The following is an extract of how the BBC can use its size and depth of experience to address different audiences by place / location whilst  providing a much more sophisticated service to all users. The service is backed by the BBCs renowned aims and objectives of trying to report in a fair manner. As such for those detractors of pub;lic service broadcasting and the TV Licence fee need to think about the service being rendered by the BBC in providing better quality news well outside of the countries national borders. The BBC explains their policy below:

The BBC News website is published in two versions - one for the UK and the other for international audiences. First time users to the site will be automatically directed to the version based on their geographical location. In this way BBC News can offer a more relevant selection of headlines. (BBC News Website)

Uses & Gratifications Theory

Uses and Gratifications theory takes quite a different pespective when it comes to creating a model of what audiences are about. rather than people being engaged passively in a mindless pastime uses and gratifications theory considers that people's use of the media is very selective and needs prior motivation. The theory became named in this way because it is expected that using the media in a chosen way will offer some gratifications. These will satisfy social and psychological needs of the individuals concerned.

Research Methods of Uses and Gratifications Theory

The research tends to be very empirically based. Usually audience members are asked to fill in questionnaires about why they watch / listen to / use particular programs or media forms. Ang (ibid p 1590 reports upon Dennis McQuail who was a researcher using these methods over several years. McQuail came to the conclusion that there were four main categories into which people's reasons for consuming certain media formats fell:

Information: Finding out about aspects of the world and society. Driven by curiosity, learning and interest

Personal Identity: Finding reinforcement for personal values, finding out about models of behaviour, identifying with others important in the lives of the individual concerned, reflexivity or gaining knowledge and insight into the self

Integration and Social Interaction: Useful for a basis of conversation, helping to perform social roles, developing insights into the position of other people, developing a sense of belonging

Entertainment: Distraction from problems of everyday life, general relaxation, cultural and aesthetic pleasure, passing the time, emotional release, sexual arousal.

Common Criticisms of Uses and Gratifications Theory

One problem is the individualistic approach taken. The possibility that people are consuming media within specific social contexts is sidelined. Some people may have to endure aspects of media because it is forced upon them. Visiting a house with the TV on may mean that the conversation is circumscribed because some people like TV on all the time.

Reception Theory

Reception Analysis /Interpretive Communites / Subcultures

Reception analysis researchs how audiences interpret media products which they define as "texts". This can be applied from any media product from the Financial Times to Grand Theft Auto. The key point here is that audiences are understood to be producers of meaning not merely consumers

Ang (p160-1) notes that researchers interest:

...is directed not to the individual ways in which people make sense of such a text, but to social meanings, that is, meanings that are culturally shared.

The term interpretive communities has developed to describe how groups of people make common interpretations of particular texts. An interpretive community does not have to be located in any specific place but the symbolical connection around a cultural text is a form of social space.

In general what reception researchers aim to uncover is how people in their own social and historical contexts make sense of all kinds of media texts in ways that are meaningful, suitable, and accessible to them. (Ang ibid p 161)

Media in Everyday Life

In recent years there has been a growth in the analysis and researching the practices of everyday life or the quotidian. The French theorist Henri Lefebvre was one of the first people to do this. After him another important theorist was Michel de Certau. Obviously the relationship and interactions between people and how they use and relate to media in their everyday lives is very important to this area of study. The media theorist Roger Silverstone has commented upon how media contributes to people's sense of being or social ontology by contributing to aspects of the everyday which make life familiar and predictable. Media can play an important part in this as part of a symbolic system underpinning everyday life:

Ontological security is sustained through the familiar and the predictable...The symbols of daily life: the everyday sights and sounds of natural language and familiar culture; the publicly broadcast media texts on billboards, in newspapers on television...

Ang notes the conclusions of researcher Herman Bausinger in 1984 who had spent a long time observing German families in their homes. He came to some key conclusions which need to be kept in mind when examining the role of the media in the everyday:

• Many media forms are used by people throughout the day and this 'media ensemble' neds to be taken into account
• People rarely fully concentrate on the media they are relating to at any given momnent
• The media are an integral part of the everyday rhythms and routines of life
  
• Media use is not an isolated process but a social one  with individuals often interacting with others whilst absorbing a media text
  

This type of approach to media is in many ways the most promising one of the ideas elaborated at least from the perspective of understand the interaction of people with media in the construction of their social and cultural worlds. This type of research method is described as ethnographic in which the fine-grained detail of everyday life can be observed and interpreted. Naturally this is a very different emphasis from those seeking to create target audience for the sale of media products. There has been useful work done by researchers like Ann Gray into issues of gender and media use in the home in her work Video Playtime

Select Bibliography

Ang, Ien. 'The Nature of the Audience'. In Downing et al. 1994. Questioning the Media. London: Sage

Silverstone Roger. 1994. Television and Everyday Life. London: Routledge

: 30 May 2008 09:03 |  Tags: Ann Gray Audience Research Methods Audience Studies In Media Communications Studies Cultural Studies Ien Ang Media Studies Reception Theory Uses And Gratifications Theory |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem