Digital Society, Media and Culture

You're introduced to the key concepts, problems, and theoretical traditions that have shaped sociological thought. The theories and perspectives covered place society in question so that individuals may be better equipped to understand how personal troubles may reflect broader socio-economic structures and processes.

The module introduces the major issues and controversies surrounding the definition, development, and teaching of ‘classical’ sociological theory. For some, ‘classical’ theory refers to ideas developed by a generation of thinkers whose works belong to a particular period of cultural/intellectual history (c.1880- c.1920). Others understand this as the ‘canonical’ texts that define the project and enterprise of sociology. This module will provide a grounding in the study of the so-called ‘founding figures’– Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber – but also offer a critique of this canon through an analysis of their positionality and Eurocentric bias. The works and contribution of ‘classical’ feminist sociologists and W. E. B. Du Bois will also be explored.

We provide you with the important foundational knowledge and understanding of the modernisation of society and development of sociology as a discipline. You'll learn to critically analyse the contributions of classical thinkers while recognising their contribution to contemporary sociological thought.

Society is complex, and there are many different approaches researchers have taken to studying it. In fact there has been so much written – so many thousands of books and articles of research and theory on every aspect of how society works – that it can seem overwhelming. Where do we even start?

On this module, you'll learn how we, as social scientists, study society. What is the difference between evidence and theory? How do we know when we know something, and how confident can we be in that knowledge? What are the different kinds of evidence social scientists use to investigate how people organise themselves?

After completing this module, you'll have a much deeper understanding of how social scientists study society – how we gather, describe, and, importantly, evaluate social scientific knowledge. You'll be able to make sense of the mass of social scientific information, and organise it to make clear, evidence-based arguments about vital social topics such as crime, gender, the environment, education, and culture.

The word contemporary literally means ‘to share the same time’, but what is distinctive about this time? Arguably, our contemporary (postmodern?) world is defined by change and uncertainty - socially, culturally, and in terms of technology. This module explores some of the key areas which have been most acutely affected by these developments and are of great importance for understanding the world we live in. It raises questions about how contemporary society can be understood from a variety of social, theoretical, cultural, economic and technological perspectives by focusing in on some of the main ‘problems’, issues or (culture war) controversies being addressed currently in our society and public sphere.

You'll think through contemporary issues such as identity, gender relations, sexuality, multiculturalism, race and otherness, our changing perceptions of space, place, and belonging, and how the rise of consumer culture, the internet and digital media has had an effect on (and portrays) all of these. In a postmodern world seen to be full of problems and controversies, you'll look at how those problems have been created through historical legacies, are maintained through popular media discourses and power structures, and what we can do about them.

How do different forms of media help create and communicate meaning? This module will introduce you to a range of important media across history, ranging from traditional forms such as print, film and television, to newer forms such as the internet and user-generated content. You'll consider how the medium itself shapes the meaning of media, and how we can work within or around this relationship to create meaningful and impactful media content.

You’ll explore how media has worked as a process of transmission, shaping what stories have been told over time. You’ll also develop your understanding of everyday experiences of media as a consumer, audience member and user. By the end of the module, you’ll have the ability to critically analyse different media texts, culture and systems. This makes you a better critic of media, as well as a better creator when making your own content.

The digital age has transformed how we live, work, communicate, and understand the world around us. This module offers an in-depth exploration of the profound impact of digital technologies on contemporary society and culture. From the rise of social media to the proliferation of artificial intelligence, this course investigates the ways in which technology shapes our identities, communities, and institutions. 

Through critical analysis, students will examine key issues such as digital privacy, datafication, algorithmic bias, online activism, crime and cybersecurity, and the gig economy. We will also address the cultural implications of emerging technologies, exploring how they reshape concepts of power, inequality, and participation. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, media studies, and cultural theory, the course provides tools to critically engage with the digital transformations that define our era. 

Students will explore real-world case studies, create digital presentations, and engage in group discussions, and develop their ability to assess the ethical and social challenges posed by digital innovation. By the end of the module, participants will not only understand the complexities of living in a digital society but also be empowered to contribute thoughtfully to debates about its future direction. 

Prepare to question, critique, and rethink the digital world! 

What are the foundational principles and practices that all programmers need to know? Designed for beginners and assuming no experience, this module equips you with essential programming concepts and skills. 

The module is a blend of theoretical instruction and hands-on exercises with the Python programming language. The skills you acquire will help you learn other programming languages such as Java and C++, to name a few. 

Practical assignments and projects enable you to apply and hone your skills. Additionally, you'll learn basic debugging techniques and best practices in coding style and documentation. By the end of the module, you’ll emerge with a solid understanding of programming fundamentals, laying the groundwork for further exploration and mastery in the field of computer science.

Unlock your creative potential through this practice-based module where you will bring your ideas to life. You’ll learn fundamental skills in the development of creative digital content, from design fundamentals such as composition and colour to audio and visual production techniques. 

You’ll develop technical skills in industry-standard software tools whilst also demonstrating your creativity and problem-solving abilities. You’ll learn to conceptualise and execute design briefs with confidence, and engage in reflective practices to evolve as a versatile creative professional. 

Whatever field of digital design you’re passionate about, this module is your gateway to unleashing the boundless potential of your creative imagination.

Society is becoming ever more digitally centred – from work to leisure, our activities are centred around 'the digital.' Do the ways we study society need to change in line with the ways we live within it? This module provides you with the chance to critically assess this, and related questions, while offering digital methods training to conduct your own research. To do this, though, we need to do two things.

First, you will critically reflect on issues around digital data and methods. This includes the implications of digital technologies on contemporary culture and society (e.g., online social networks, algorithmic mediation, online participatory culture, etc.); an evaluation of what digital culture and data are and why it’s distinct; and a grounding in the ethics of digital research via critical evaluation (e.g., algorithmic bias).

Second, you will put these critical reflections into practice using digital data and methods. This will allow you to develop your digital research toolbox, learning about methods like Social Network Analysis; Quantitative Text Analysis; Geographic Information Systems; and others. These skills will prepare you for both research in university, and future careers in the digital world.

As digital spaces become more present and crucial to our everyday lives, these spaces not only impact out social and cultural understanding of the world around us, they also lead to new cultures and social groups.

You will concentrate on how the internet in particular has challenged some of our more traditional notions of identity and self, the body, relationships, community, privacy, politics, friendship, war and crime, economics, among others. In your lectures you will discover how some of the basic components of society and culture such as notions of identity, space, work, the body, privacy, community, and even the very notion of what it is to be human, have been complicated by the rise of virtuality, cyberspace, social networking, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Through examining these issues through case study phenomena unique to digital culture, including gaming, music, dating, and social networking, you will build an understanding of digital culture, these ideas, and ways to communicate them are increasingly in demand in by employers as our society becomes more intertwined with digital spaces.  

In an ever-changing media landscape, how we understand the relationship between the production and consumption of cultural forms, our relationships to media technologies, and of what constitutes ‘popular’ culture are perennial questions. The module focuses on themes of cultural elitism, power and control; the formation of identities and the politics of representation; the production, consumption and uses of different forms of knowledge; and the dynamic between societal values and the changing technological basis of a mediated culture.

What are the moral responsibilities of digital content creators and social media platforms? Can commercial success and social justice go hand in hand? Critically reflecting on these and other questions is crucial for aspiring media practitioners and industry professionals.

To answer these questions, you’ll investigate some of the most pressing ethical issues in contemporary media culture. You’ll use theoretical frameworks to critically examine a diverse range of media, and you’ll learn to articulate your own critical perspectives in creative ways.

By the end of this module, you’ll have the tools to engage in a range of ethical debates, evaluate media as a tool of social justice, and apply critical thinking skills to your own practice as a digital content producer. This not only improves your ability to create content, but also your marketability as a content creator, giving you the chance to make rapid progress in your practice and later, your career.

What is media’s relation to social change and how can digital media transform the world? How have digital technologies reconfigured the media? What are the key media-related issues that we should be concerned about today, not just as scholars but as citizens? 

Focusing on the topic of ‘change’, you’ll explore the place of media in social change, and think about how economic and cultural factors shape the media. You’ll critically examine how media follows, blocks, represents, produces or manages changes of one kind or another in our society. You’ll also investigate a range of topics and case studies, engaging with different industry views and academic approaches for understanding media at a particularly critical moment in its development.

With the rise of social media, media itself has become more democratic, with more ways for people's voices to be heard. An understanding of this process, and how to engage with more voices than ever before not only deepens your knowledge of media, it gives you the skills to make media go further when you break into the industry.

Explore the major issues and controversies that have shaped key developments in contemporary social theory. We will survey the development of social theory through the second half of the twentieth century and up to the present day. Following on from the the earlier module on ‘classical’ social theory, it questions the distinction between the ‘classical’ and the ‘contemporary’ to highlight the intellectual decisions, values and problems involved in the packaging of social theory under these terms.

You will further explore social theories that extend beyond Eurocentric and anthropocentric perspectives. Examining evolving perspectives on core concepts such as biopolitics, habitus, ethnomethodology, recognition, shame, civilising process, intersectionality, coloniality of power, subaltern, cosmopolitanism etc. Upon completion, you will have gained a deep understanding of contemporary social theories and their applications in analysing current social issues. Being able to critically evaluate societal developments and contribute thoughtfully to debates on social change.

Research methods are – together with theoretical frameworks and empirical material – one of the three main pillars of the study of human society. The social sciences are methodologically very diverse and apply a number of different approaches that can be summarised under the quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. This module unlocks the power of data analysis for students from a variety of educational backgrounds - no statistical knowledge is necessary.

In our data-driven world, understanding numbers is crucial for all social scientists. We'll teach you how to sift through the noise and find the insights hidden within statistics. You'll learn how to uncover the real story behind the numbers often used in the social sciences. This module also introduces you to the principles of empirical social science research and equip you with foundational statistical techniques. You'll gain the ability to confidently analyse the data driving policy decisions and academic research, as well developing the skills to dissect complex arguments and see the bigger picture hidden within the numbers.

We live in a deeply unequal world – one in which your education, wealth, power, and even health can be determined not by your intelligence or character, but by the social group you belong to. The study of these social inequalities has been central to Sociology right from its beginnings as a discipline.

You'll learn how deep social divisions by gender, ethnicity, and social background really are, how they come about, and how they might be challenged. You'll read what classical and cutting edge sociology has to say about how and why inequality develops, and how it has been maintained. Engage with important ongoing debates about how society should be organised, and what can be done about social divisions that seem so intractably engrained.

Inequality is one of the most important issues of our age. Barack Obama described it as 'the defining challenge of our time'. And yet so much of the conversation about social inequalities is superficial and uninformed. At the end of this module, you'll have a much deeper knowledge of the real issues that underly these debates, and of how sociological research and imagination can help us to resolve them

What is globalisation, and what forms does it take? How does globalisation reconstitute our relationship to society? How is global development experienced across the world, and what power relations does it (re)produce?

To help develop your critical understanding of globalisation we will present contemporary modes and challenges of doing sociology in an increasingly complex and interrelated world.

You will critically evaluate explore key topical debates relating to global economic interdependence, migratory flows and experiences, and the work of development agencies and NGOs. You’ll also explore forms of resistance to global processes, including alter-globalisation movements and the national populist backlash. Underpinning these themes and debates is a theoretical investigation of how we might frame and analyse globalisation and development processes, including ‘creolisation’, ‘McDonaldisation’ and postcolonial perspectives.

To understand race and ethnicity in society, the self is a crucial place to start. We will encourage you to think about your place in your own social worlds, and in particular the importance of your ethnic and racial backgrounds/identities in shaping this sense of belonging in multicultural contexts.

What is the nature of ethnic ties and membership? How do understanding of ethnic group and race-based identities and membership influence our interactions with one another, and structure our opportunities in the wider society? How do our ethnic backgrounds intersect with our gender, religion, and sexuality? These issues are now critical in multi-ethnic societies such as Britain, where our use of ethnic and racial categories and terms are central to societal organisation and function, whether in the census or in everyday interactions.

But given the dizzying speed with which our societies are become super-diverse, via various forms of migration, and interracial and interethnic unions, the terms and categories we use are much less ‘obvious’ than they may have been in the past. Membership in ethnic or racial groups themselves is now increasingly contested, and we also question what we mean by terms such as ‘minority’ or ‘BME’ and if these terms are still suitable for our society today.

If you’re seeking to work in or make an impact in the world of teaching and education, understanding education is a global context is a great first step to making your voice heard and starting your career.

You will be encouraged to explore problems, challenges, and questions about education through a global sociological lens. You’ll cover the history of education in the local and global context, and an examination of the intersections, hierarchies, ethics, and dynamics of power and inequality in the classroom.

You’ll delve further into other topics such as the marketisation and digitisation of further and higher education; the rise in ‘radical pedagogies’, alternative, and inclusive curricula. We will ask you to consider ideas around the purpose of education and educational policy and their sociological implications, as well as encouraging comparative analysis of international education systems.

There will be a specific focus on your own reflexive experience of education, and how it might be experienced as a UK, international, widening participation, or non-traditional student considering current discourse and educational policy. You will also get hands on, being introduced to educational research methods, including the principles of action research and autoethnography, which will inform the work you do for your main assignment.

The digital sphere has given voice and meeting spaces to communities and activist groups, enabling social action, art and change. You will learn to critically examine social media and digital platforms such as photo and video sharing apps, social networking apps, livestreaming services, dating apps, etc.

You’ll deepen your theoretical understanding of concepts such as participatory and collaborative culture, sharing economies, democracy, technology and surveillance. You will learn to sustain a critical analysis and argument about how social media and digital platforms sit at the intersection of culture, politics, economics, personal expression and art making practices in the digital age.

You will then be able to apply this understanding in a portfolio of practical exercises, demonstrating your knowledge of social media and understanding of its nuances. This is a vital skillset for whatever career you progress into, as digital platforms impacts are larger than ever, and ever expanding.

The video games industry is the biggest entertainment industry in the world, with Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V the most successful entertainment product of all time. But how well do we understand that industry? Why do so many people play games, and what effect has video gaming had on our lives?

You will explore the history, technological development, and social issues surrounding video gaming. We will cover the technological and industrial advances in game design over the past 50 years, as well as how video games have been presented in contemporary marketing and modern media.

This will likely be your first exploration into the field of game studies (including game theory), and how it can help us understand different game genres, game mechanics, and game content. Across the module, you will learn about intersecting questions of narrative, interactivity, space, play, players, and representation. This is your chance to level-up your skillset and make rapid progress in an expanding and exciting industry.

Web applications, or web apps, are not tied to a specific platform, and they can run on any device with a web browser and an Internet connection. This makes web apps accessible and as a result they are a valuable resource for enabling interactions and communications between users and organisations. You will explore the fundamental technologies for creating web content and interactive experiences. You will transition from building static web pages to creating websites that provide interactive functionality and update content dynamically. To ensure that websites adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes, you will learn how to make web pages responsive and provide an optimal user experience across different devices. You will be introduced to the text-based format for exchanging data in web applications and learn how to improve responsiveness and efficiently handle time-consuming operations in websites. 

Global societies are complex, and so are the many ways and tools we can use to analyse them. Building on the previous year’s research methods modules, this will further develop your skills in research methods. You'll discover how to gain in depth, and rich, data and understanding of social phenomena through the design and application of qualitative research methods.

The first part of the module equips you with a critical understanding of qualitative research methods. This will give you skills in understanding how underlying mechanism, stories and experiences can be captured. The variety of qualitative research techniques available to social scientists and their relative advantages and disadvantages in understanding the social world. These include, interviewing, visual, comparative/historical, and discourse analytic approaches.

You'll also explore key steps in designing a qualitative research project and criteria for assessing its quality.  You'll then apply your research skills to a variety of projects, including a dissertation, as well as developing critical understanding of ethical concerns in social research including the application for ethical clearance.  

Cybercrime is an increasingly relevant and important issue of our time. You will explore the phenomenon of cybercrime within the context of contemporary criminological theory and practice. You will also examine the emergence of cybercrime, its impact on society, and the challenges it poses for law enforcement and criminal justice systems. Through a multidisciplinary approach, you critically analyse various forms of cybercrime, such as hacking, identity theft, online fraud, cyberbullying, and cyberterrorism.

We cover key theoretical perspectives relevant to understanding cybercrime, such as routine activity theory, strain theory, social learning theory, and subcultural theories. You will aim to understand the motivations, behaviours, and techniques of cyber offenders, as well as the socio-cultural, economic, and technological factors that contribute to the prevalence of cybercrime.

Additionally, you reflect on the implication of the legal and regulatory frameworks governing cybercrime, international cooperation in combating cyber threats, and strategies for cybercrime prevention and intervention. You will use case studies and real-world examples to illustrate theoretical concepts and practical implications.

The relationship between humans and other animals has received increased attention since the turn of the 21st century, quickly emerging as a deeply intersectional and multifaceted area of interest generally and in sociology in particular.

This shift also reflects growing public, political, and industry awareness to worsening climate change, mounting human health crises related to animal-based diets and zoonotic diseases, and expanding ethical concerns over the treatment of Nonhuman Animals used for food, medicine, clothing, and companionship.

You will get to grips with a multispecies sociological approach to understanding contemporary social problems, exploring the many ways that our relationships with other animals has profound implications for human systems, the environment, and, of course, nonhuman animals themselves. Together, we will examine historical and contemporary constructions of ‘animal’ and ‘human’ and how stories about biology, evolution, domestication, civilisation, economic progress, and “the other” create and reproduce social distinctions and boundaries for humans and nonhumans alike.

From extreme poverty and repressive governments to gender violence and structural racism, society faces numerous crises which trigger organised and spontaneous movements in pursuit of social justice. Why and how do people come together to engage in collective action? What is the purpose of protest and activism and how should we evaluate their impact? How do social institutions and wider publics engage with social movements?

Through exploring these questions, you will gain a critical understanding of social movements, protest, and activism, and the role they play in society and the wider political process.

Underpinning your learning are core sociological questions of identity, affect, community, and power, and the production of agency and empowerment in the pursuit of social justice. You’ll be introduced to a range of different types of activism, and a range of historical, recent, and contemporaneous movements. You’ll analyse movements’ grievances, modes of communication, organisation, tactics and contexts, engaging in key debates such as the use of violence, the efficacy of online activism, and the relationship between reformist and revolutionary change.

In short, you will develop a sociological understanding of protest and political activism, and engage in self-reflexive and critical ways with the practice of contemporary social and political change.

Environmental issues have become central matters of public concern and political contention, but addressing these issues is a complicated matter. How can we navigate these complexities to make meaningful, positive change for the environment?

Through this module you will consider explanations for the rise of environmental concern as well as the forms of organisation that have been adopted to address environmental questions. You’ll follow the development of environmental protest from the philosophical to the political. In doing so, you examine various scales of political engagement including the grassroots, nation-state, and international.

We will critically examine sociological analyses of environmental inequality, protest participation, institutionalisation, and capitalist co-optation of sustainability efforts. Upon careful consideration of various interventions, approaches, theories, and bodies of research, you will gain confidence in confronting the sustainability challenges that currently and increasingly concern a variety of industries, charities, governments, civic organisations and communities. A greener, more sustainable and equitable society depends on people just like you. This class aims to foster your ambition, leadership, and collaborative skills to make it happen.

How can we use theory and empirical evidence to comprehend the relationship between society and the economy? How can sociological training shed light on a range of contemporary political and economic questions?

This module explores those questions from all angles. You’ll look at topics like work, the rise of precarious employment and the role of digital technologies in workplaces. You’ll also discuss issues like inequality and debt at the household, national, and global level, as well as issues around gendered and racialised divisions of labour and problems related to consumption practices.

Throughout the course, you’ll engage with fundamental questions around the nature of money, wealth creation and rent extraction and examine the effect of extractive industries on our economy and planet - paving the way for a fairer future.

How is science changing society? Global challenges such as the prevention and treatment of disease, finding cures for cancer, or fighting antimicrobial resistance are all underpinned by scientific research; as is addressing climate change, pollution, and safeguarding the world’s ability to produce food. Advances in technology have changed the ways we communicate, work, and interact with the world from the ubiquitousness of smart phones to video conferencing and remote working. But how are people engaging with scientific or medical research?

You will consider science and society through a sociological lens and consider the who, how, where, and whys of ‘doing’ science. You will explore the social, ethical, political, and economic implications of scientific progress. You’ll study the barriers to doing and being a scientist and the implications of absences of peoples and groups in research cultures or health research.

Building upon this, you will explore forms of societal governance of science; policies, guidelines and professional codes of conduct. You contribute to discussions on topics including: risk society and the “humanisation” of science, science and its environmental impact, biosecurity and biosafety, technology and inequality, intellectual property rights, public engagement and public consultation, citizen science, AI and posthumanism, and national innovation policies.

Increasingly, more and more of us come from cities, so understanding the urban environment is crucial for figuring out who we are, and plotting the course for where we might be going. You will explore global cities and key contexts for modern social life, producing distinctive forms of sociological research and enquiry. You will focus on, and contrast cities in the Global North and South to explore questions of urbanisation under capitalism, planning, consumerism, globalisation, social differentiation, multiculturalism, and comparative urbanism.

You’ll delve into key concerns such as questions of belonging, and the ‘right to the city’ including who belongs in - and who is excluded from - the public spaces of the city, and the processes underlying such dynamics, as well as the possibilities for resistance for marginalised social groups.

Through this, you will consider topics including gentrification, displacement, homelessness, and policing, as well as social movements and activism. Key theoretical perspectives introduced will include Marxism, the Chicago School, post-modernism, feminism and post-colonialism. To really explore questions and produce answers, you need to go beyond the classroom, as well as lectures and seminars, teaching will include practical workshops and fieldtrips to enable students to apply learning to live urban contexts and analysis.

How do physical bodies influence the ways we perceive, understand, and engage with the world? How are bodies utilised to represent and experience our own and others’ gender and/or sexuality? How do these factors change how we are perceived, understood, and treated within society?

Everyone has a living, breathing body; so, everything we experience is by definition embodied. Yet bodies and gender are socially constructed, and embodiment is a contested term. Embodiment can describe how we represent ourselves at an individual or societal level: through the clothes we wear; whether we have tattoos; the way we use makeup; or how we ‘discipline’ ourselves through diet and exercise. Embodiment also describes a process of becoming and state of being more self-aware and conscious of the feelings, sensations, perceptions, judgements, and emotions that arise from, within, and about our bodies.

You will explore ways in which bodies can be researched and become tools for research, learning how bodies are a means of developing awareness and reflexivity. You will gain a deeper understanding of the body from a sociological perspective, exploring topics such as: hierarchies of oppression; gendered constructions of identity and sexuality; moving bodies; dis-abled bodies; and how certain bodies feel they do or do not belong.

Migration might be the most pressing issue of recent times, namely, migration, and its relationship to politics of identities, belonging and citizenship in global societies. Over the course of the term, you will explore migration through a series of key themes and issues. You will participate in debate and critically explore the ways in which migrants, refugees and diaspora communities shape their societies of settlement and origin and how they have become key actors of a process of ‘globalisation from below’ at different social and spatial scales.

You will critically discuss key concepts and theories deployed to analyse contemporary processes of migration, transnationalism and diaspora and assess their relevance across a wide range of migration case studies.

Examples of the central questions this module will address are: what are the main drivers of contemporary migration? To what extent can migrants become transnational citizens? What is the link between migration and homeland development in third world countries? How are gender, class and race relations affected by migration? By the end of this module, you will be able to accurately construct potential answers and debate points around these questions, giving you the toolbox to find resolutions to global discourse.

What are you a fan of? And how do you express your fandom? Today, thanks to online communities and corporate feedback systems, the fan has more power than ever to welcome, influence, and reject media content. Is the fan today a loyal follower or empowered shaper of the media industry?

You explore these questions, what makes a fan ‘a fan’, and how fandom has changed over the last century. You will look at a range of media industries and their outputs - which may include film, television, animation, comics, and video games - and how those industries and media connect and interact with their audiences. Considering how fans express themselves through different means, you are encouraged to reflect on your own fandom through creative outputs on the module.

You will critically engage with the ‘business’ of fandom, its financial worth to the entertainment industry, including the vast merchandising involved, and the opportunities for fans themselves to make money from their own passion and interests. Using key case studies and examples, you will also critically discuss the transmedia framework behind modern entertainment, exploring, for example, how contemporary franchises reach new audiences and encourage new people to become fans.

Is gender important now? Does it matter how we are represented in the media? How has the depiction of gender and sexuality altered over time?

By examining Western and Global debates around gender and sexuality and how the media represents these, you’ll develop your ability to critically assess and understand cultural power dynamics. Building upon your previous studies and knowledge of the media, you will examine how representation of gender and sexuality has changed and continues to change. Examining a wide range of media case studies, you will consider historical, social, political, and economic contexts that will prepare you for both the current and future media industries. You will assess and analyse the representation of gender and sexuality in the media and how that influences contemporary culture and working practices in the media and creative industries.

Through developing your own proposal based upon your research and interests within gender and sexuality you will design a media project that could be pitched to industry professionals and form a strong part of your own creative portfolio. 

What is a star? What is a celebrity? Often used as synonyms, the two terms in fact relate to different types of media constructs. You’ll explore stardom and celebrity as an academic field of study, reviewing the history of the rise of stardom within the Hollywood context and how the establishment of ‘the star’ became an integral part of the industry.

You’ll critically examine the ‘star system’ and its relationship to a range of topics, which may include performance, genre, the representation of gender and gendered bodies, as well as audiences and fan studies. You’ll also trace how the stardom industry became a component within a larger network of celebrity culture.

Often characterised as a more contemporary phenomenon, the notion of ‘celebrity’ incorporates prominent figures in the public eye to whom the extension of fame is not necessarily based on any specific skill, talent or achievement. You’ll explore this context in conjunction with the decline of the dominance of Hollywood stars, as a variety of mediated identities are promoted, consumed and commodified within diverse media landscapes.

You’ll analyse how celebrities can take on many forms, using different media platforms, such as film, television, online streaming and social media. The importance of media technologies within both the study of stars and celebrity culture is stressed throughout the course.

This module offers you the opportunity to engage in either independent research or professional practice within an organisation, enabling you to apply theoretical knowledge and research skills acquired throughout your studies in a real-world setting. You have the flexibility to choose between three pathways:

Independent Research Project: You undertake an original research project under the supervision of an academic advisor. You are expected to formulate research questions, design, and execute a research plan, collect, analyse and draw meaningful conclusions. The research project culminates in the production of a dissertation-style report that demonstrates your ability to conduct rigorous academic research and the skills that come with it.

Creative Project: You can undertake an original research project akin to the Independent Research Project, but with a creative output aimed at utilising different kinds of skills and engaging a public audience with academic ideas and findings. This creative element could include a podcast, film, zine, poster exhibition, photo-journal or an alternative format depending on which medium best matches the aims of the research and your own interests and talents.

Professional Practice: You will also have the option to work with a organisation undertaking work relevant to your course, such as a company, non-profit organisation, government agency, or research institute. During the project , you will engage in tasks and projects relevant to your field of study under the supervision of the organisation and assisted by an academic. You will apply theoretical knowledge to practical challenges, develop professional skills, and produce a research report addressing a specific issue identified by the organisation and in collaboration with the supervisor. Throughout the module, you’ll receive guidance and support from academic supervisors and/or mentors, ensuring that your research, engagement activity, or professional experience aligns with your personal academic and career goals.

What role do the technological innovations of today play in what you will be designing in the future? And how do these technological innovations impact on the design needs and requirements of tomorrow? Technologies such as machine learning, mixed reality, robotics, data sharing and cybersecurity are transforming how we design services around healthcare, learning, transportation, communication, homes and workplaces. 

By engaging with the social and cultural transformations brought about by the rapid developments of digital technologies, you will learn to evaluate these technologies and about how to future-proof your designs, and design with an inclusive mindset, thinking about the design requirements that will suit future needs. We will introduce case studies of major technological and design developments and invite you to explore their impact on culture and society via a combination of face-to-face and individual research. So, how about learning to critically engage with current socio-cultural trends and technological innovations and using those insights to help you design the future? 

This module combines theoretical and methodological approaches and empirical cases to examine how our understandings of the past, present and future are constructed in various social, cultural, political and digital contexts. It explores the different temporalities that underpin social life on and offline and how ideas and norms about time are embedded in institutions, spaces and everyday practices. We will critically explore the cultural roles of memory and the imagination in the construction of social life, the roles of ‘heritage’ and nostalgia in contemporary political and policy discourse, ongoing debates about the acceleration and mediation of everyday experience, the development of movements for 'slow' ways of living, renewed interest in rhythm, and contest over ‘whose time counts’. Through these explorations, the module provides context and nuance that compliments and help us understand wider issues within and beyond sociology: issues of collective, cultural and individual identity, social and technological change, everyday life, and political decision-making.