HTY 604: Seminar in U.S. History, 1916 to the Present: Political Economy and Popular Culture
Instructor: Professor Nathan Godfried
Days/Time: Wednesday, 4:00-5:50
Location: Stevens Hall 175
Description: This course examines a set of complex issues and questions dealing with popular (mass) culture and twentieth-century U.S. history: How has the extension of capitalist market relations into all areas of social life shaped American cultural forms and practices? How has culture itself become commercialized and what have been the consequences? What cultural meanings have been attached to different products and services produced within a commercial nexus? How have different social groups–organized along lines of class, race, gender, and ethnicity–consumed and contested those meanings? Through readings, discussions, and research projects, we will examine the theoretical and methodological debates that revolve around the concepts of popular/mass culture, consumerism, and ideological hegemony. The course is designed to help you define questions and areas of research that have yet to be explored and develop tools necessary to conduct that research.