J399: Introduction to Communication Studies
Professor Debra Merskin
Office: 205 Allen Hall
Office Hours: Tues 2-4 & Thurs 10-1130
Email: dmerskin@darkwing
Today
o Introductions
o What is communication studies?
o Media & modern life
Introductions
o The class: format, structure, materials, our mutual expectations
What will we study & how?
How can I do well in this class?
Where do we begin?
What will we study?
And why should I study it?
What is communication studies?
o Comm: practices of producing & negotiating meanings that takes place under specific social, cultural, & political conditions
What is communication?
Communication:
Mass Communication: means of communication that operate on a large scale, reaching and involving virtually everyone in a society to a greater or lesser degree.
Includes: radio, films, magazines, television, recorded music, Internet
Culture, Politics, and Values
Culture:
Primary source of definitions
focus of leisure time
Shared cultural environment
Politics-
Element in democratic process
Exercise power
What is Communication Studies?
Sometimes referred to as Comm studies, cultural studies, critical studies
Characteristics of communication studies
Examines cultural practices in relation to power
Analyzes the social/political/cultural context
Intellectual and pragmatic
Reconciles divisions of knowledge
Committed to moral evaluation and radical line of political action
Discipline draws on:
Anthropology Political Science
Psychology Sociology
Linguistics
Literary criticism
Art theory
Musicology
Philosophy
o Study texts
o Cultural literacy: knowledge of meaning systems
What do people study and why?
o Spoken
o Written
o Visual communication
o Such as?
Media & Modern Life