Singapore University of Social Sciences

What is the difference between ‘popular’ culture, ‘highbrow’ culture, and ‘lowbrow’ entertainment? Who gets to define or classify them? Who produces popular culture and how is it produced? Who consumes popular culture and how is it consumed? SOC365 Popular Culture teaches a wide range of theoretical perspectives for understanding the complexities of popular culture and associated social processes. Students will have the opportunity to apply these theoretical insights to empirical examples and case studies from around the world. Popular culture will be studied as a set of artefacts with significant social and political effects and functions. Relevant themes or topics of discussion that will be introduced include globalisation, technological advancements, capitalism, media industry, consumption, gender, and socio-cultural change in general. In the process of studying this subject, students will be exposed to insights from several other disciplines such as cultural studies, literary theory, linguistics, organisation studies, and media and communication studies.