Popular Music, Technology and Society (U04143)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : SPS-3-PMTS

In a world of intensified audio stimulation, links between technology, popular music and everyday life serve as an attractive way of exercising the sociological imagination. The course offers a representative selection of ways of studying pop from a broadly cultural sociological perspective that attunes itself to the question of technology. Topics will include: music and everyday life, the voice in popular music, the role of the DJ, iPods and digitalisation, the live performance, genre formation and the democratisation of music production.

? Keywords : Popular music, technology, society, digital, theory

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Sociology, (School of Social and Political Science, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
12/01/2009	11:10	13:00	Room B.01, Chrystal Macmillan Building	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to:

1.Evaluate a range of concepts and approaches within cultural sociology to the development of popular music.

2.Critically assess accounts of technological innovation in changing forms of musical production and consumption.

3.Recognise the formation of popular music genres as a social accomplishment dependent on micro and macro social processes.

4.Assess the relevance of theory in understanding the impact of popular music.

5.Undertake and present scholarly work including the discussion and evaluation of everyday experiences of music consumption.

6.Recognise and comment on issues raised by the digitalisation of popular music, such as changing practices of music making and listening.

7.Critically reflect on their own experiences of popular music as producers or consumers.