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From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture Since the 1950s
Undergraduate | MAQ-MHIX365 | 2018
Course information for 2018 intake
Be there for the emergence of sixties counterculture. Immerse yourself in the eighties and hip hop. Tune into the rise of reality television. Look for the influence of gender, race and politics on pop culture across the past seven decades.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- -
HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture Since the 1950s
About this subject
In this subject students will:
- locate, read and analyse different kinds of historical evidence (primary sources), including visual and textual sources;
- devise and answer research questions drawing on primary and secondary evidence;
- identify key arguments in secondary source materials and apply them in your own historical arguments;
- communicate thoughtfully in classroom discussions, and in a range of written forms;
- be able to identify and analyze key developments in the history of popular culture since 1945;
- analyze selected examples of popular culture produced since 1945 in their historical contexts, and to describe the ways these examples relate to, and reflect, broader social, cultural and political trends;
- explain how the social and political movements of this period were reflected in popular culture.
- Historians and popular culture
- Popular culture and family life
- Suburban rebels
- Youth cultures
- The sixties and the counterculture
- Black power and popular culture
- Essay workshop
- The sexual revolution and the seventies
- The eighties
- Hip-hop and black culture
- Postmodern gender cultures
- Interactivity and reality TV
This subject was previously known as HST370 From the Beats to Big Brother: Popular Culture Since the 1950s.
What can we learn about the past when we study popular culture? This subject traces a history of popular culture in the United States of America and Australia from the 1950s to the present. We particularly focus on the ways in which class, gender, race and politics have shaped the experience of popular culture. Film, television, music, music video and other media are used in this subject to evoke seminal moments in the history of popular culture and students are encouraged to explore such non-discursive forms as primary sources. Students are also encouraged to consider the reception of popular culture by audiences and to think about their own experience of popular culture historically. This subject will be of particular interest to students in media and cultural studies, as well as history.
- Analysis Task (10%)
- Weekly Quiz (25%)
- Research Proposal (25%)
- Research Project (40%)
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Entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
MAQ-HST370 (Not currently available)
Others
You should have studied some History or Politics at Level 1 and 2 before starting this subject.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
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