Social Problems and Media

Social Problems and Media

BACKGROUND 

There are many agents of popular culture though which the messages  themes and symbols of popular culture are produced and consumed.  Media is a key agent of popular culture  and within it music is one mode for the production and consumption of popular culture.  The music of the 1960s marked a key period of transition in the United States as themes of social problems and dissidence started to fill the radio waves.  This assignment will allow you to explore one social issue or problem in music today.

   INSTRUCTIONS    

1  Choose ONE social issue or social problem  i.e. drugs  the environment  war  teenage

pregnancy  hate crimes  etc .  

2  Find at least 5 songs with lyrics that address your chosen social issue problem. You will need to cite these songs using proper APA formatting  see below . 

3  Analyze the songs for similarities and differences in how they address the social issue problem.

§  You may   - look for themes within and among the songs  i.e.  songs about war that talk about  ending war  

§  consider the year the songs were copyrighted

§  - consider the genre the song fits in  - is the song directed at a particular audience   think socio-demographic characteristics  age  race ethnicity  gender  socio-economic status  SES   and sexuality

§  - what type of vocabulary  words  grammar  euphemisms  vernacular is used for the lyrics   - Consider the actual production of the song as well  tempo  emotion  male female singer  individual singer band  etc.

1        Find at least two sources that address music AND your social problem  i.e. the sources are providing similar analysis or commentary on how your social problem is addressed through music .  These may be popular sources  i.e. magazine articles or websites   but Wikipedia is NOT acceptable.   

2        Find at least ONE peer-reviewed article  see attached Finding Peer Reviewed Journals guidelines  that discusses your social issue problem and how it is portrayed by the media  ideally this would be focused on your social issue and problem  but this may be difficult to find   so an article on TV  radio  internet  movies is OK . 

3         Write-up your paper

a)      Cover Page

b)      Clearly identify your chosen social issue problem.

c)      Why are you interested in studying this 

d)     Write-up your analysis of how this social issue problem is addressed in the 5 songs you chose  a. NOTE  this is the majority of your paper. 

§  It is a comparative critical analysis of how your chosen social issue problem is addressed in these songs.

§  It is NOT a summary of each

§  song  and it should not include cutting and pasting the lyrics of all of the songs into the paper.  i. If you submit a paper that is full of copied lyrics  you will receive

   a)      a ZERO. 

   b)      b. Use the prompts in step 3 to help you organize this analysis

   c)      c. Information about the singer band should be a VERY minimal part of this analysis  the lyrics are the heart of the analysis

   d)     d. APA-formatted in-text citations should be used throughout this section  d  Briefly describe the TWO sources you found that discuss music and your chosen social problem. 

a.  Discuss how the analysis or commentary in these two sources compares to your analysis

b.  Remember your APA-formatted in-text citations 

   e)      e  Briefly describe your chosen peer-reviewed article. 

a.  What is the main research question thesis of the article

b.  What is the research method used in the article  i.e. survey  interview  content analysis  observation  experiment  etc  

c.  What are the key findings of the article

d.  Discuss how the findings in this article can help you to better understand explain your chosen social issue problem and how it is addressed in your chosen songs

    f)       e. Remember APA-formatted in-text citations  

         f  Conclude by discussing how your analysis is helpful and relevant in the study of American Popular Culture    

      PAPER FORMAT     - length  3-5 pages  - APA formatting should be used throughout  o 1  margins  o 12 pt arial or times new roman font  o in-text citations and corresponding full references  

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