2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue
MUSS2122 Theorising the Popular
20 creditsClass Size: 35
Module manager: Dr Ross Cole
Email: r.cole@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2024/25
Module replaces
MUSS2722 Music in Context BThis module is not approved as a discovery module
Module summary
The popular is a notoriously difficult concept to pin down, and yet one that is fundamental to the experience of modernity, traversing fields from Marxism to psychoanalysis. This course will introduce a wide range of theoretical approaches to understanding popular culture, covering topics such as the culture industry, media and technology, semiotics and meaning, identity and power, subculture and resistance, and the practice of every life. On the module you will encounter and critique a number of key writers representing a variety of perspectives – such as Theodor Adorno, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Michel de Certeau, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Donna Haraway, Frederic Jameson, Julia Kristeva, Marshall McLuhan, Jacques Rancière, Edward Said, and Susan Sontag – but no prior knowledge of these figures is necessary. Ultimately, the course will equip you with a clear understanding of complex ideas surrounding the history of mass culture from the 19th century music hall up to our present age of social media and surveillance capitalism.Objectives
On completion of this module, students should be able to ...Explore theoretical approaches to popular culture
Engage with and critique significant writers in the field of popular culture
Explore the ideas of popular culture from the nineteenth century to the present day
Learning outcomes
1. Demonstrate the broadening of musical knowledge through musicological study of relevant areas
2. Apply appropriate historical, analytical, critical and comparative methodologies to the articulation and development of arguments.
Skills Learning Outcomes
3. Evaluate sources critically
4. Demonstrate research, and essay-writing skills.
Syllabus
Taught sessions focus on specific themes within popular culture, offering a holistic exploration of the subject alongside a more focused investigation of key theories. Lectures are split into two: the first half offers a broad but detailed overview of key thinkers, and the second revolves around group discussions and presentations illuminating different facets of the topic.
Teaching methods
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
| Lecture | 2 | 1.00 | 2.00 |
| Lecture | 7 | 2.00 | 14.00 |
| Seminar | 3 | 2.00 | 6.00 |
| Tutorial | 1 | 0.30 | 0.30 |
| Private study hours | 177.70 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 22.30 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200.00 | ||
Private study
4 hours evaluation of notes per topic lecture: 28 hours7 hours reading and listening per topic lecture or seminar: 70 hours
Skills lectures preparation: 12 hours
Work towards assessment: 70.75 hours
Opportunities for Formative Feedback
Formative feedback will be provided on the literature review assignment through a plenary feedback seminar session, enabling all students to benefit from knowledge about common errors and examples of best practice from across the cohort. Formative feedback will also be provided through contribution to class discussions in lectures and seminars, and in the module tutorial.Methods of assessment
Coursework
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
| Essay | 3800-4200 words | 70.00 |
| Literature Review | 1400-1600 words | 30.00 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100.00 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Reading list
The reading list is available from the Library websiteLast updated: 15/05/2024
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- Undergraduate module catalogue
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