1.

SOC 617 Sociology of Media

2. Ali Murat Yel, Prof. Dr.

Department of Sociology, South Building
E-mail: alimuratyel@marmara.edu.tr -- ali.yel@ibnhaldun.edu.tr
Phone: 0505 775 87 21
Course Hours: Mondays 09:30 – 12:30
Office Hours: by appointment
TA:
E-mail:

3. Course Description

Although sociologists and anthropologists have long addressed topics related to media and communications
technologies, some have argued that a truly institutionalized commitment to the anthropology of media has only
developed within the past twenty years. This might be due, at least in part, to a traditional disciplinary emphasis on
“primitive” communities lacking the ostensible features of modernity, including electronic forms of mass
mediation.
Sociology of Media places media in cultural and social processes and more specifically cultural production and
social communication. Therefore, this course is the study of how mass media communication impacts people's
views of each other as well as their daily interactions. Combining the two disciplines of media and sociology,
media anthropology focuses its attention on the role of media in people's lives by paying specific attention to the
process of constructing the reality for the masses. In order to do so, sociology provides three fundamental aspects
to the study of media: a theoretical orientation that places culture at the core of media production; a relativistic and
comparative view that destabilizes the central position of Western societies in developing knowledge and
understanding of media work; and an empirical approach based on ethnographic methods that takes into account
the experience of people in the context of social interaction and how people give meaning to their media practices.
4. Assumed/Required Prior Knowledge

There is not any required prior knowledge for the course.

5. Learning Resources

Required Book
Ginsburg, Faye D., Lila Abu-Lughod and Brian Larkin, Editors. 2002. Media Worlds: Anthropology on a New
Terrain. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

Additional Books and Articles:

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 ● Jeremy Tunstall - Media sociology: a reader.
● Christian Fuchs - Foundations of Critical Media.
● James W. Carey - Communication as Culture.
● Jean Baudrillard - The Ecstacy of Communication.
● Todd Gitlin - Media Sociology The Dominant Paradigm.
● Roger Silverstone - The Sociology of Mediation and Communication.
● Charles R. Wright - Mass Communication: A Sociological Perspective.
● Denis McQuail - Sociology of Mass Communication.
● Rodney Benson - Bringing the Sociology of Media Back In.
● Denis McQuail - Towards a Sociology of Mass Communications.

6. Learning Objectives

Students taken this course are expected to have

1. ability to forecast tendencies in media consumption and media communication, predict an impact
of media communication,
2. message and/or technology on local and global communities, markets and social processes.
3. ability to carry out social survey applying focus-group method, observation methods, content-
analysis, statistical analysis, social modeling;

7. Learning Outcomes

Students completed this course successfully will be able to

1. Comprehend social changes and transformations in the context of media and communication
technologies development. •
2. Know and understand reasons, patterns and tendencies in different types of social behavior.
3. • Comprehend the role of media in shaping and reshaping social structure, values and norms,
identities.
4. • Differentiate and analyze social groups and communities.
5. • Conceptualize and explain main tendencies in modern society from sociology of media point of
view.
6. • Apply symbolic interactionism and semiotics theories to media research.
7. • Study and forecast main tendencies and patterns of media consumption.
8. • Distinguish information war, fake news and disinformation.
9. • Effectively search for, find, filter and interpret information.
10. • Comprehend and apply main theoretical insights and latest research and state-of-the-art
methods in multidisciplinary setting.
11. • Distinguish and apply quantitative and qualitative methods of research.
12. • Recognize opportunities and limitations associated with different quantitative and qualitative
methods of research.
13. • Construct the program and timetable of media research.
14. • Conduct content analysis of different types of media.
15. • Calculate the sample scale for the research. •
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 16. • Conduct field audience survey.
17. • Apply statistical methods to data analysis.
18. • Apply observation method and conduct experiment in the field of media studies.
19. • Comprehend modern tendencies in social structure changes and communication
transformations.
20. • Understand and forecast development of social changes due to information and communication
technologies.
8. Assessment and Grading Scale

Students must come to class having done the readings. Students are expected to participate in class discussions and
share their own ideas with other students with a mutual respect. Although the course will run as a seminar, students
are expected to be active participants in the class. Grading will be based on following criteria.

Participation/Attendance: 10%
Midterm: 20%
Midterm: 20%
Final: 50%

Grading System:

Letter Grade Coefficient Description

A+ 4,0 Successful
A 4,0 Successful
A- 3,7 Successful
B+ 3,3 Successful
B 3,0 Successful
B- 2,7 Conditionally Successful
C+ 2,3 Conditionally Successful
C 2,0 Conditionally Successful
D+ 1,7 Conditionally Successful
D 1,3 Conditionally Successful
F 0,0 Unsuccessful
IA 0,0 Unsuccessful due to incomplete attendance

For further info on grading system and regulation of undergraduate education of IHU see:
https://iber.ihu.edu.tr/documents

Participation/Attendance:
Attendance is critical to your success. Any student who, in the opinion of the instructor, is absent too frequently
from class periods in any course will be reported to the Dean (after due warning has been given). Students are
required to attend all the class sessions. They are responsible from class lectures and seminar videos in the
examinations. No attendance credit will be given to students who miss class due to illness, or any other emergency.
Participation grade will be based on an active class participation in the class discussions.

Midterm Exams:
The midterm exam will cover all lectures, readings, presentations, and seminar videos from the first day of the
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 class.

Final Examination:
The final examination will cover all lectures, readings, presentations, and seminar videos in the course. The final
examination will have a special emphasis on the material covered after the midterm exam.

Students are responsible for seeking accommodation with appropriate documentation, prior to writing
examinations, if they are of the view that their performance may be affected by extenuating circumstances. You
should understand that academic accommodation will not be granted automatically on request. Instructors are
under no obligation to offer a make-up exam. You must demonstrate to your instructor that there are compelling
medical or compassionate grounds that can be documented before academic accommodation will be considered.
Different regulations apply to term tests, final examinations, and late assignments. Please read the instructions
below carefully. In all cases, action must be taken at the earliest possible opportunity, prior to the scheduled
test, examination, or assignment. Unless otherwise noted by your instructor, students are not allowed to have
a cell phone, or any other electronic device, with them during examinations.

9. Rules of the Course

Attendance

Attendance is critical to your success. Students are required to attend all of the class sessions in order to be
successful in this course. They are responsible from class lectures and seminar videos. According to the regulation
of graduate education, the attendance obligation is 70 percent of the classes. No attendance credit will be given to
students who miss class due to illness, or any other emergency. Participation grade will be based on an active class
participation.

Late-Make-up and Revaluation Policy:

Students are expected to submit their assignments in time by following due dates. There is not a guarantee of
extensions for deadlines and due dates.

There will be make-up for not conducted lectures due to absence of lecturer (conferences, meetings, health
problems etc.) and students are expected to attend these classes that are going to be determined (day-hour) with
consultancy of students in class.

It is student’s main responsibility to present his/her work in class and submit the assignments on time! If you are
selected to present and you are not present, you will receive a zero for the presentation (there are no make-ups!).
Late paper submissions will be penalized 5% per calendar day late.

Students are responsible for seeking accommodation with appropriate documentation, prior to writing
examinations, if they are of the view that their performance may be affected by extenuating circumstances. You
should understand that academic accommodation will not be granted automatically on request. Instructors are
under no obligation to offer a make-up exam. You must demonstrate to your instructor that there are compelling
medical or compassionate grounds that can be documented before academic accommodation will be considered.
Different regulations apply to term tests, final examinations, and late assignments. Please read the instructions
below carefully. In all cases, action must be taken at the earliest possible opportunity, prior to the scheduled
test, examination, or assignment. Unless otherwise noted by your instructor, students are not allowed to have
a cell phone, or any other electronic device, with them during examinations.

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 Using Mobile Phones and Computers
Students are allowed to use laptops just for notetaking. All internet connections and other
audio-visual components must be switched off. Other electronic devices and cell phones are
not permitted in the class. During the classes, cellular telephones must be switched completely off or set to silent
(not vibration) mode. In case of online courses, except the permission of the use of internet connection and digital
materials relevant to course content, other rules stay valid

Recording lectures
Students are not allowed to use recording devices in the classroom.

Academic Integrity, Including Collaboration and Plagiarism

Students must write their homework in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage of text from
another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper
referencing. Plagiarism is a major academic offense. All required papers may be subject to submission for textual
similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection TURNITIN software.
Students who commit plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty when completing an exam or a project will
receive an ‘F’. This is the bare minimum depending on how the infringement has been committed. Other penalties
will be expected in line with the university policy.

Special Adaptations / Needs

Please inform the instructor or the TA of the class in advance of your situation and special needs.
(Vision-hearing-reading impairment, psychological needs, physical disabilities, etc.)

10. Statement encouraging student wellness

Students are encouraged to come to office hours or make appointments for their questions in my office on campus.

11. Expected semester schedule

Week Date Topic Readings

A general introduction to the

1 Feb 12 Introduction to the course
Marxism(s): Class Conflict,
2 Feb 19
Hegemony and Ideology
course
Antonio Gramsci, Excerpts from
“The Prison Notebooks”
Louis Althusser, “Ideology and
Ideological State Apparatuses”
Jere Paul Surber, “Materialist
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Media Determinism
3 Feb 26
Gender Workshop: Introducing
4 March 4
the Basic Concepts
Nationalism: Race, Ethnicity and
5 March 11
Nation
Media and Militarism Workshop:
Analysis of the News Items
Critique of Culture”
Marshall McLuhan, excerpts from
“Understanding Media: The
extensions of man”
Simone de Beauvoir, Excerpts
from “The Second Sex”
bell hooks, Excerpts from
“Feminism is for Everybody:
Passionate Politics”
Şirin Tekeli, “Birinci ve İkinci Dalga
Feminist Hareketlerin
Karşılaştırmalı İncelemesi
Üzerine Bir Deneme”
Anderson, Benedict. “Cultural
Roots,” “The Origins of National
Consciousness,” and “The Last
Wave,” In Imagined Communities:
Reflections on the origin and
spread of nationalism, 9-46, 113-
140. New York: Verso, 1991.
Sanjinés, Javier. “The Nation: An
imagined community?.” Cultural
Studies 21, no. 2-3
(2007): 295-308.
Ayşe Gül Altınay, “Becoming a
Man, Becoming a Citizen” and
“The Road Less Travelled:
Challenging Military Service” in
Myth of the Military Nation:
Militarism, Gender and Education
in Turkey.
Emma Sinclair‐Webb (2000) "'Our
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 Bülent is Now a Commando':
Military Service and Manhood in
Turkey" in Imagines Masculinities:
Male Identity and Culture in the
6 March 18 Modern Middle East.
Ayşe Gül Altınay, “Dünyanın İlk
Kadın Savaş Pilotu: Gökçen”
Pınar Selek & Oğuz Sönmez,
“Anti‐Militarizm”
Abu-Lughod, Lila. “Egyptian
Melodrama–Technology of the
Modern Subject?.” In Media
7 March 25 Contemporary Media-Nations Worlds
Anthropology on new terrain, 115-
133. University of California
Press, 2002.
8 Mid-term
•Louis Althusser, “Ideology and
Ideological State Apparatuses”
9 Apr 8 Structural Marxism and Beyond
Jere Paul Surber, “Materialist
Critique of Culture”
Foucauldian Analysis of Power, • Michel Foucault, “Panopticism”
10 Apr 15
Discourse and Discipline

Pierre Bourdieu, Excerpts from

“On Television”
John F. Myles, Excerpts from
“Bourdieu, Language and the
Pierre Bourdieu Workshop 1:
11 Apr 22 Media”
Theoretical Framework
Rogers Brubaker, "Rethinking
Classical Theory: The
Sociological Vision of Pierre
Bourdieu," Theory and Society 14
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 (1985): 745‐775.

Andy Merrifield, “David Harvey:

The Geopolitics of Urbanization”
in Metromarxism: A
Marxist Tale of the City
Pierre Bourdieu Workshop 2:
Film Screening and Class
“Urban Renewal” as “Distinction”
12 Apr 29 Discussion:  On Tarlabaşı and
and Reproduction of Social
Urbanization: Interview with David
Inequality
Harvey (10 mins) Available online.
Beyoğlu'nun Üvey Evladı;
Tarlabaşı (İsa Tatlıcan, 2012, 45
mins).
“Refugee Voices” Summer 2009,
Helsinki Citizens Assembly
“5N 1Mülteci: Basın Mensupları
İçin El Kitabı”, Mültecilerle
“We real” citizens and “others”: Dayanışma Derneği
Analysis of the Representations “Mültecilerin Sesi” İlkbahar 2009,
13 May 6
of Underprivileged Communities Helsinki Citizens Assembly
: “Volkan Görendağ ile Türkiye’de
Mültecilerin Durumu Üzerine
Söyleşi” Söyleşi: M. İnanç
Özekmekçi, amnesty.org.tr

Rıfat N. Bali, “Toplumsal Bellek ve

Varlık Vergisi”
Film Screening and Class
Trauma and the Memories of Discussion:
14 May 13
Citizenship Salkım Hanım’ın Taneleri (Tomris
Giritlioğlu, 1999, 135 mins, Best
Movie at Golden Orange
1999)

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13. Study tips

Students who participate in classes regularly and having done weekly readings orderly are expected to be
successful in this class. Timely submissions of assignments are also crucial for the success.

14. Relevant campus resources

IHU Information Center is at the service of students with both printed and online resources. IHU Information
Center also provides periodic training on the use of resources. For detailed information:
http://ibnhaldun.edu.tr/bilgi-merkezi/

Students can use subscribed databases. The library subscribes to the databases needed in line with the needs of the
users. Databases can be used directly from inside the campus and from outside the campus via a proxy server 24/7.
You can reach the databases provided by our university via the link below:
https://library.ihu.edu.tr/veri-tabanlari/

Some databases that you can use in this course:

JSTOR
ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts)
Social Services Abstracts
Health Policy Reference Center
Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA)
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
PolicyMap
World Bank eLibrary