Cornell University Sociology Discussion

 

 

Find a popular mainstream media item that depicts an aspect of social life or represents social and cultural groups.

In this assignment you will choose a media item to critically examine through a sociological lens. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate your ability to analyze media context using sociological questions and concepts. This paper should be 3-4 pages and please cite any sources used in the analysis. The paper should first describe the media item, then offer a sociological analysis of the content, and conclude with a discussion of an alternative media representation. This assignment provides you the opportunity to both critically analyze a media item and develop a response or alternative version of this item that both incorporates your critique and seeks an alternative representation. Your analysis and critique should incorporate theories and key concepts from this course including inequality, gender, race, class, social roles/socialization, impression management etc.

Find a popular mainstream media item that depicts an aspect of social life or represents social and cultural groups. This can be print or digital media that is one of the following:

An advertisement

An article in a popular/mainstream magazine

A newspaper article

A popular YouTube or Tik Tok video

A clip from a popular show on television or movie

A clip from a news program

A social media page or profile

Using what you have learned in this course, critically analyze the social meanings and representations presented in the media content. Discuss how the media item reflects or challenges dominant cultural values, norms, and social identities.

Describe an alternative representation of your media item. How could the media item be changed or reimagined to represent social life differently?

Should cover:

Ability to critically examine a popular media item using the sociological imagination – Completed all aspects of question. Showed clear understanding and application of sociology to social topic in media.

Application of Course Concepts

Ability to effectively communicate how social categories and sociological concepts are represented in media – Applied relevant sociological concepts to the media item. Clearly communicated their understanding of the course concepts in the application.

Alternative Representation

Ability to creatively develop an alternative media representation that illustrates sociological critique – Completed all aspects of question. Showed clear understanding and application of theory to social issue and creatively developed media illustrating sociological critique.

Free textbook to use as resource:

https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/front-matter/pu…