COURSE INTRODUCTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION

Course Name
Sociology of Communication
Code
Semester
Theory
(hour/week)
Application/Lab
(hour/week)
Local Credits
ECTS
MMC 304
Fall/Spring
3
0
3
4
Prerequisites
None
Course Language
English
Course Type
Elective
Course Level
First Cycle
Mode of Delivery -
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course
Course Coordinator -
Course Lecturer(s)
Assistant(s) -
Course Objectives This class examines sociological effects of contemporary media practices. We will focus on how ‘old’ and new media coalesce in initiating social change in present-day interconnected and globalized world. We will analyze the impact of digitization on the lives of people from various regions of the world, while paying special attention to the socio-cultural and political effects of social media tools. The central aim of this class is to assess how 21st century media practices play an active role in generating socio-cultural change, and shape the way people live their lives, make sense of their everyday experiences and construct their identities.
Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • Identify the links between mass media, social media and socio-cultural transformation in the 21th-century world
  • Analyze how technological change is deeply connected with cultural transformation.
  • Examine critically the role of social media tools in the construction of personal and group identities and identifications.
  • Discuss about the social effects of the rising popularity and widespread use of smartphones and other digital communication devices in the last decade.
  • Examine the interactions between material culture and the digital revolution as well as the impact of digitization on materiality of life.
  • Discuss about the uneven process of digitization, affecting various regions of the world in markedly different ways.
  • Compare the diverse uses and the cultural effects of the interactive media content production.
Course Description Each week in this class is devoted to a particular topic of discussion pertaining to the social, cultural, and political study of 21st century mediated communication practices. This class is reading-intensive and, in emphasizing the theoretical literature, it will enrich students’ understanding of the socio-cultural significances of their everyday use of communication tools and channels.
Related Sustainable Development Goals

 



Course Category

 Core Courses
Major Area Courses
Supportive Courses
X
Media and Managment Skills Courses
Transferable Skill Courses

 

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week Subjects Required Materials
1 Introduction - Media, Communication and Social Change Lievrouw, L. A. (2009). New media, mediation, and communication study. Information, Communication & Society, 12(3), 303-325. Wajcman, J. (2008). Life in the fast lane? Towards a sociology of technology and time. The British journal of sociology, 59(1), 59-77.
2 Interactions between ‘Old’ and New Media Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. NYU press, pp. 1-24. Gurevitch, M., Coleman, S., & Blumler, J. G. (2009). Political communication—Old and new media relationships. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 625(1), 164-181.
3 Identity Formation in the Global Village and Networked Individualism Merchant, G. (2006). Identity, social networks and online communication. E-Learning and digital media, 3(2), 235-244. Greenhow, C., & Robelia, B. (2009). Informal learning and identity formation in online social networks. Learning, Media and Technology, 34(2), 119-140.
4 Questions of Individual Empowerment Through Facebook, Twitter and Blogosphere Barnard, S. R. (2016). Spectacles of self (ie) empowerment? Networked individualism and the logic of the (post) feminist selfie. In Communication and Information Technologies Annual: [New] Media Cultures (pp. 63-88). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Gill, R. (2012). Media, empowerment and the ‘sexualization of culture’ debates. Sex Roles, 66(11-12), 736-745. Kumar, N. (2014). Facebook for self-empowerment? A study of Facebook adoption in urban India. New media & society, 16(7), 1122-1137.
5 Intimate Relationships in the Age of Social Media Boase, J., & Wellman, B. (2006). Personal relationships: On and off the Internet. The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships, 8, 709-723. Wellman, B., & Rainie, L. (2013). If Romeo and Juliet had mobile phones. Mobile Media & Communication, 1(1), 166-171. McCormack, M. (2015). The role of smartphones and technology in sexual and romantic lives, p. 1-9.
6 Old Media, New Media and Politics Huyssen, A. (2000). Present pasts: Media, politics, amnesia. Public culture, 12(1), 21-38. Shirky, C. (2011). The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political change. Foreign affairs, 28-41.
7 Smartphone Decade Madianou, M. (2014). Smartphones as polymedia. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 667-680. Sung, W. (2016). A study of the digital divide in the current phase of the information age: The moderating effect of smartphones. Information Polity, 21(3), 291-306.
8 Interactions between Material Culture and the Digital World Rosner, D., Roccetti, M., & Marfia, G. (2014). The digitization of cultural practices. Communications of the ACM, 57(6), 82-87. Mul, Jos de (2010). The Digitalization of Culture: Reflections on Multimediality, Interactivity, and Virtuality. In Cyberspace Odyssey: Towards a Virtual Ontology and Anthropology, pp. 85-102. Jenkins, H. (2003). Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital cinema, media convergence, and participatory culture. Rethinking media change: The aesthetics of transition, 281-312.
9 Art and Socio-Political Transformation Miles, M. (2010). Representing nature: art and climate change. Cultural Geographies, 17(1), 19-35. Adams, J. (2002, March). Art in social movements: Shantytown women's protest in Pinochet's Chile. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 21-56). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.
10 Interactive Media Production and Consumption Manovich, L. (2009). The practice of everyday (media) life: From mass consumption to mass cultural production?. Critical Inquiry, 35(2), 319-331. Andrejevic, M. (2002). The work of being watched: Interactive media and the exploitation of self-disclosure. Critical studies in media communication, 19(2), 230-248.
11 Hacktivism and Hacker Culture Goode, L. (2015). Anonymous and the political ethos of hacktivism. Popular Communication, 13(1), 74-86. Merck, M. (2015). Masked men: hacktivism, celebrity and anonymity. Celebrity studies, 6(3), 272-287.
12 Postmodern Media and Contemporary Media Audiences Shefrin, E. (2004). Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and participatory fandom: Mapping new congruencies between the internet and media entertainment culture. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21(3), 261-281. Highfield, T., Harrington, S., & Bruns, A. (2013). Twitter as a technology for audiencing and fandom: The# Eurovision phenomenon. Information, Communication & Society, 16(3), 315-339. Brodersen, A., Scellato, S., & Wattenhofer, M. (2012, April). Youtube around the world: geographic popularity of videos. In Proceedings of the 21st international conference on World Wide Web (pp. 241-250). ACM. Shugart, H. A. (1999). Postmodern irony as subversive rhetorical strategy. Western Journal of Communication (includes Communication Reports), 63(4), 433-455.
13 Communication Through Brand Creation and Management Khamis, S., Ang, L., & Welling, R. (2017). Self-branding,‘micro-celebrity’and the rise of Social Media Influencers. Celebrity Studies, 8(2), 191-208. Van Ham, P. (2001). The rise of the brand state: The postmodern politics of image and reputation. Foreign affairs, 2-6.
14 Review of the semester
15 Review of the semester
16 Final Exam
Course Notes/Textbooks

The course uses the sources that are listed above in the weekly subjects and related preparations.
Suggested Readings/Materials

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities Number Weigthing
Participation
1
20
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
3
30
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterm
Final Exam
1
50
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade
4
60
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade
1
40
Total

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities Number Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
3
48
Laboratory / Application Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
Study Hours Out of Class
16
2
32
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
3
3
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterms
Final Exams
1
28
    Total
117

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#
 Program Competencies/Outcomes
* Contribution Level
1
2
3
4
5
1

To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.

 X
2

To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.

 X
3

To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.
4

To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.  
5

To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.  
6

To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.  
7

To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.

 X
8

To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.  

 X
9

To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.

 X
10

To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication. 

 X
11

To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).  
12

To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.
13

To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.

*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest