MACS 110 | Introduction to Mass Communication Theory
Essay Topics: Value: 30%: (10-15 pages, typed and double-spaced) -back to MACS 110 Home-
Please let me know which essay topic you have chosen by Tuesday, October 6th. Other essay topics will also be considered up until this date. If you wish to propose an essay topic, submit it to me in writing and include a title and thesis statement. Your essay research may also be the basis for your presentation, but you may also choose another topic subject to approval. Your presentation topic, or proposed topic, should be decided and submitted by email before Tuesday, October 13th. Your subject lines should read: MACS 110 Essay topic - and - MACS 110 Presentation topic.
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1. To what extent is Canadian nationalism and cultural sovereignty reliant on government funded propaganda ? Discuss in relation to social responsibility theory and the marketplace of ideas theory.
2. Examine the interplay between the Culture Industry, as understood from the Frankfurt School perspective, and Canadian society. Do you feel critical theory is still relevant in today's mass mediated culture ? Why ?
3. Explain in what ways the emergence of mass society is linked to the history of communications. How might new communication technologies promote both cultural unity on the one hand, and cultural fragmentation on the other ?
4. Do you have faith in the self-righting principle in terms of mass media content and effects ?
5. Which media theories apply to the reading 'Cold War and Communication' ? Can they also be applied to the so-called 'War on Terror and Communication' ? Discuss.
6. What issues might people be afraid of speaking out against because they go against the grain of the dominant culture ? How might one design an effective mass communication campaign to further one of these oppositional viewpoints ?
7. Matthew Arnold's definition of culture is "to know the best of what's been thought and said" in order to be able to appreciate the "sweetness and light of culture." What do you believe Arnold would make of contemporary popular culture as represented by the mainstream mass media ? Please include examples of what he might view as positive signs.
Arnold 1822-88
Leavis 1895-1978
8. F.R. Leavis sees popular culture as "largely masturburtory" and characterized by "junkies addicted to substitute living" as a consequence of the "cretinization of taste." What insights can mass society theory provide into this perspective ?
9. In what ways does propaganda undermine democracy, and in what ways is it essential to a democracy ? Discuss in relation to mass communication theory.
Some concepts/terms to consider in essays and presentations might include:
ideology, technology, power, market economics, fallacies, audience, reception, ownership, culture, identity, socialization, protectionism, nationalism, imperialism, social control, consciousness industry, dependency, cultural hegemony, ideological state apparatus, globalization, professionalism, cultural policy, regulation/deregulation, consumer sovereignty, quality, agenda setting, and emotional transfer.
