1 – Choose your topic area from the following:
a) Definitions of culture and/or popular culture
b) Popular culture as representation
c) The rise of consumer culture
d) Popular culture as mass manipulation
e) Popular culture as active consumption
2 – Your objective is to provide an overall summary of the debates and issues raised by your 4 items, which might help an intelligent layperson to understand the topic you have chosen. This means you must provide a separate discussion of each text – deal with them one at a time in an appropriate order – but you must also try to relate to texts to each other, point out whether they confirm or contradict one another and make it clear when they are focusing upon different or similar aspects of the topic.
3 – Your assignment structure should look as follows:
General Introduction to the topic and to the particular readings you are going to cover. If possible identify one or two key themes or arguments which you will return to throughout (suggest approx 100-150 words).
Individual discussion of each text. Use the full, properly presented reference for each text as the subtitle for each one. Make sure as part of your discussion of each one you draw some comparisons with the other texts. Also you should make positive or negative critical comments where appropriate (suggest approx 250 words for each item). Concluding section, drawing together links/contradictions between the different sources, making any general positive/negative criticisms and summarising.