COM 244, 245 - Media & Social Movements

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement HU (and W when offered as 245).
Examines the interrelationship between mass media and twentieth century social movements in the United States. How have actors within social movements used mass media to raise awareness, mobilize, and/or demand redress? How have various mass media portrayed those movements, actors, and events? Using an historical approach, we will explore how context - technological change, political, social, and economic climates - deeply influence how mass media and social movements interact. Primary attention will be given to social movements during the age of the Cold War (1945-1990), including the Civil Rights/Black Power, the New Left, the New Right, Feminist, and Gay Rights Movements. Students will be challenged to consider local examples of present-day social change advocacy in relation to media use and representation.