JOUR 7011

PROSEMINAR IN MEDIA STUDIES

MIDTERM EXAM

FALL 2003

The purpose of the exam is to develop your ability to engage with the ideas in the readings; to synthesize those ideas into larger patterns and themes; to evaluate critically those ideas; and to formulate your thoughts in coherent, persuasive arguments. Your answers should be written in essay form (e.g., opening with a general thesis or position; providing evidence and arguments to support your position; and drawing conclusions from the evidence presented). You should engage directly with the course readings and use them as the basis for your evidence and arguments. You don’t need to supply footnotes or a bibliography, but any direct reference to or quotations from the readings should include the author and page number in parentheses. You may draw on outside sources where relevant. Answers for each question should be 7-9 pages, double-spaced. Be concise and respect the length limit. Exams are due Friday, October 17 by 5 p.m. Please make two copies, one for Janice and one for Andrew, and leave them in our mailboxes.

1. The classical social theorists (Weber, Marx, Durkheim, Simmel, Tonnies) were attempting to understand and explain the nature of the emerging “modern” society in relationship to the social order it was displacing. Writing during a period of social transformation, they focused on various aspects of this emerging society. What kind of picture of “modern society” emerges from their writings? What do you see as valuable contributions of these theorists to our understanding of media and society?

2. What are the historical origins and basic tenets of liberalism, and how are they manifested in the ideas of the thinkers associated with pragmatism and symbolic interactionism in the history of communication studies (Dewey, Mead, Lippman, Blumer)? How does liberalism shape their views of society, the individual, and communication?

3. Evaluate the claims and the supporting evidence that communication research agendas and their corresponding intellectual communities historically have been affected by media industry influence.

4. It has been argued that Lasswell’s question—“Who says what to whom in what channel with what effect?”—provided the foundation for what became the mass communication research field in the United States. Reflecting on the entire mass communication research tradition, would it make a difference, and if so, what kind of difference, if Lasswell’s formulation also asked “why”?