Department of Social Sciences
Media and Cultural Analysis
MA 1 year full-time
The programme offers a comprehensive understanding of social sciences media and cultural analysis. Interdisciplinary in conception, it provides students with a critical introduction to key areas of media and cultural analysis, including the media and political economy, modernity and post-modernity, and cultural ‘difference’, prejudice and power.
The programme integrates theory and method in the investigation of media and culture, and deals with a wide range of topics which are international in their content and scope. It is designed for students from a variety of cultural and academic backgrounds. While there are several core modules, students undertake research directly related to their specialist interests in the dissertation. There are also a number of optional modules, covering such areas as globalisation, visual cultures, media and nationalisms, citizenship, digital media, popular music, cultural policy and consumption.
Compulsory Modules
Semester 1
- Media and Modernity
- The Politics of Representation
- Ethnographic Techniques
Semester 2
- Media and Cultural Industries
- Textual Analysis Research Techniques
- Dissertation
Optional Modules
Semester 2 (choose 2)
- Culture, Media and Globalisation
- Visual Cultures
- Popular Music and Modern Times
- Citizenship and Communications
- Media, Nations and Nationalisms
- Global Communications
- Digital Futures: Explorations of New Media
Assessment
Coursework plus a dissertation of 10,000 words on an agreed topic.
Entry Qualification
The degree is designed to appeal to students from a variety of cultural and academic backgrounds. You would normally have a good first degree in the social sciences or humanities, but applicants with appropriate professional expertise will also be considered.
These are in addition to the General Entrance Requirements.
Selection
Decisions about selection are normally made on the basis of applications and references are heavily relied upon, though some students may be interviewed.
Careers and Further Study
The degree is designed to enhance specialist knowledge and methodological expertise of relevance to professionals working in communications, to students interested in media and cultural studies and those wishing to progress to a research degree in these fields.