BA (Hons) Media, Culture, Communication

What exactly is 'culture? How have people defined it, or made judgements about it? Why is it important to our everyday lives? How have researchers tried to study culture and what it means to people? This module aims to answer these questions!

This module will enable you to analyse the social, cultural and political importance of the mass media in precise ways.  Centrally positioned as leisure resources and tools of citizenship, the media have a major impact on how we understand our world, ourselves and other people.  At the same time, the media cannot be taken as simply offering windows on the world; the image of reality that we get from television, radio, music, press, the internet and film is more accurately understood as a construction whose version of reality is influenced as much by economic, political and aesthetic factors as it is by the world in which we live. This module will introduce you to a range of methods for studying media texts, and their relevance for an understanding of contemporary socio-cultural debates. 

This module introduces you to the study of the institutions that produce our media and the audiences that consume them. We will consider broadcast media institutions and examine the tensions that are created when trying to serve the public interests of citizens and the private interests of shareholders. Current institutional case studies include the BBC and the birth of radio, ITV and the early years of television and the rise of Sky in an era of apparent deregulation. We will then move on to examine what audiences may take from their consumption of media and how we can go about researching them. We will consider a range of topics including early research into media effects, uses and gratifications theory, the encoding/decoding model and ethnographic studies of domestic media consumption.

Professional writers produce content for audiences. On this module you will develop your writing skills to a professional standard to produce an original portfolio of writing, containing a feature, review, news story and podcast. You will also critically reflect upon your work and the influence of your practice on the content you have produced. On the module you will learn about: attribution and referencing; editing and proof-reading; writing to meet a brief; various forms of journalistic practice, e.g. print, online, podcasts. 

This module will introduce a range of key debates and approaches to the study of media, culture and communication. It will assist you in developing the conceptual and critical language necessary for studying media and cultural practice.

This module introduces you to a range of techniques for the analysis of political activism and political communication. It pays particular attention to new and emerging methods of communicating information on a variety of social and digital media platforms. It will look at key moments during the development of social media and net platforms such as the Arab Spring, and the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. The module will assess how online and social media have transformed political communication and empowered grassroots activists to become involved in major political issues.

Public Communication is a work-based learning module about advertising and its role in awareness raising, communicating information and persuasion. We will introduce you to the study of advertising as persuasive communication and you will examine both theoretical and popular responses to advertising as a cultural form and develop critical analytical skills to deconstruct it. We will then move on to the world of Public Information Campaigns (PICs), those not-for-profit campaigns that encourage us to eat healthily, to drive soberly and to engage in sexual activity safely. You will be briefed by a real-world client about a Public Information Campaign they want you to develop. You will then work in campaign teams to design and then pitch a campaign in response to the client brief.

Analysing Entertainment Media is a module that focuses on contemporary popular television, the institutions that produced it, the content it offers and how we consume it according to a range of socio-cultural contexts. You will explore key scholarly work in Television Studies and examine this work in relation to a range of case studies, around issues such as: television and celebrity, television and fandom, the rise of television formats, new forms of documentary, television genre in the age of hybridity, the use of ordinary people on television, the representation of social issues in soaps, and the rise of post-network brands such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. 

This module enables you to use primary sources in the investigation of historical and contemporary cultural and communication practices, focusing on how digital archives can enhance your approaches to research.  By reflecting upon and critiquing the research process, you develop an understanding of the different stages involved in building a research project, coming to appreciate a variety of analytical methods for examining media, culture and communication texts and practices. You will be introduced to various research methods and given the opportunity to begin to apply a number of these methods for yourself. 

Media and Cultural Theory offers you the opportunity to trace the theoretical roots of our subject area and to develop skills and knowledge around theorising, critique and analysis. We take key terms such as hegemony, post-feminism, structuralism and postmodernism and seek to understand how they came to be so vital to the study of media, culture and communication. We deal with core issues such as race, class, gender politics, and how media and culture are sites for the reproduction and transformation of power relations. Along the way we will offer you the opportunity to critique and apply these ideas in the theorisation and analysis of media texts and cultural practices. The module culminates with you developing an essay plan and research essay based on your own analysis and theorisation of a case study media text of your choice. 

The module examines a distinct field of communications practice, that of public relations but its not just a module for students with PR in mind as a career option.  Were all familiar with the concept and the language of spin. PR practices have become pervasive: tactics that we see people engaging in all the time, from politicians to reality TV celebrities. This module enables you both to critique what goes on in the name of public relations and also to make creative use of its tools and practices.  Central to the module is the idea of producing effective communication in our case, effective, persuasive writing. We think about how organisations go about doing this: how they cope with challenges that threaten their reputation, and how they take advantage of opportunities to build up their reputation.

Magazines are a popular form of journalism, read by many thousands and often staffed by freelance writers. In this module you will both critically evaluate journalistic practice, in contemporary publications like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and When Saturday Comes, and produce professional standard copy for real-world audiences. The module focuses upon contemporary industry practice with an emphasis on lifestyle and feature journalism. You will examine a range of issues that influence the production and consumption of popular journalism. You will undertake research for your own professional-standard portfolio of original reviews and features which meet the professional demands of real-world publications.

The aim is to provide students with an additional year of study at an approved overseas partner that will compliment their programme at LJMU. This is an additional year of full-time study at an approved higher education institution. The modules to be studied must be agreed in advance, and must be appropriate for the student's programme of study. Assuming successful completion of this year, mark-bearing credit will be awarded by the Faculty Recognition Group. The grade conversion scale to be used will be made available in advance of the year abroad.

The aim is to provide student with a semester of study at an approved overseas partner that will replace one semester of their LJMU programme at level 5.This is a semester of full-time study at an approved higher education institution which will replace one semester of level 5 study at LJMU. The modules to be studied must be agreed in advance, and must be an appropriate substitute for the modules being replaced. Assuming successful completion of this semester, mark-bearing credit will be awarded by the Faculty Recognition Group. The grade conversion scale to be used will be made available in advance of the year abroad.

From Spotify to podcasting, the rise of digital media technologies has seemingly led to an ever-expanding range of ways to engage with popular culture. This module questions how far these developments have led to transformations in our experiences of popular cultural texts. For example, how is engaging with a podcast different to listening to radio? In what ways has YouTube transformed our consumption of music videos? Paying particular attention to popular music, the module explores the implications of the mediation of music across a range of technological forms, including: radio, podcasting, video games, television, narrative and documentary film, YouTube and social media.

There are few more persistent or lively areas of debates in the modern world than those that cover questions of identity. At some point in our lives, identity matters to us all. Thinking through identity entails questions of politics, of feeling, of emotion, of social relationships and cultural representation. Identity is rarely about just one thing, because none of us are just one thing just gendered, just classed, just raced, etc. Culture is a key site for the making and contesting of identities. Culture and Identity is about how we try to negotiate our place in the world at different points and in different contexts. We will explore approaches to identity through a series of case studies, such as: television representation of classed identities, self-reflexivity in reality television, psychoanalysis and filmic representation, music as a resource of self-identity, and media sport and national identity.  

The module explores historical shifts in the ethics of media production and consumption in the light of changes in policy and regulation, new technologies and changes in media ownership and communication. It highlights how an appreciation of regulatory and legal contexts can enable us to gain insights into complex contemporary debates regarding issues such as the distribution of offensive media content, unethical journalistic practice, and the balance between freedom of speech and the protection of privacy. 

The dissertation module requires you to undertake a sustained piece of academic analysis on a self-selected topic and present this in a proper academic form. You will demonstrate a thorough understanding of theoretical and methodological issues relevant to your chosen subject of study. The dissertation module will move through three key phases: proposal development, researching and data collection, and writing up and re-drafting. It enables you to pursue in-depth research on a topic that enthuses you and offer new insights on this.

This module adopts various sociological and critical criminological approaches in the understanding of sport in contemporary societies. You will look at issues relating to recent transformations, prejudices and cultural cohesion in the world of sport, focusing in particular on developments relating to issues such as racism, nationalism, globalisation and gender prejudice. The module will also be centrally concerned with the transformation of sport in the light of ongoing changes to a consumerist society.

This module offers a wide range of theoretical and conceptual perspectives on the critical study of consumer society and consumer culture, beginning with a series of lectures on core theoretical approaches and concluding with case studies of a range of cultures of consumption, such as: the shopping mall, nostalgic consumption, luxury consumption, gender identity and consumer culture and postmodern leisure consumption. You will develop critical interpretive skills for the observation of consumption practices and will produce a critically and theoretically-informed essay about a selected aspect of consumer culture and/or cultural consumption.

This module is about becoming an excellent writer who can produce content suited to the digital environment. This environment can vary hugely, including writing for personal and professional purposes, on behalf of organisations, and as produced by a range of individuals, from global celebrities to ordinary people blogging from their bedrooms. We will critically and creatively explore notions of voice, originality, community, and the desire to share, and examine how audiences are attracted to content in an increasingly competitive attention economy.  The module involves tasks where you will be analysing, producing, and editing writing suitable for a range of careers and audiences.

This module aims to equip you to explore, interpret, and analyse representations of diversity and diverse identities in the media. The module will present a range of themes and topics alongside case studies of media and cultural texts that represent and mediate key issues in contemporary culture to enable students to critically engage with diverse representations in media, culture and communication texts. Case studies will be used to explore key themes and issues. These currently include: representations of democracy in the UK/US; reporting conflict(s); representing Pride & LGBTQIA Communities; femininities & masculinities; the Black Lives Matter movement; #MeToo and gender power relations; disability and migration.

This module seeks to explore social and digital media theory and practice. We will examine the rise of new platforms an+C985:C1597d forms of storytelling and then examine the stories that they frame and narrate about various groups and individuals. We will engage in some social and digital media practice which will critically interrogate its own construction and challenge modes of representation commonly found in popular social and digital media spaces. We will explore social and digital media through a range of case studies, including: Hashtag activism; Game streaming; Fan commentaries; Instagram influencer marketing; ephemeral media forms: TikTok and Snapchat; online sports talk and the political economy of Twitter.

Within this module you will have the opportunity to develop critical, analytical and evaluative skills appropriate to the textual study of screen media. You will begin to identify and critically evaluate the discursive roots of given examples drawn from screen media. This will further provide you the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of screen media narratives and their historical contexts.

This module highlights the relationships between politicians and the media and the role of the media as a primary space for political agenda setting. The module will look at the political structures in Britain, including what devolution has meant for people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will encourage you to engage closely with the political economy of the news media in Britain and the role that it plays in political communication. It will address the historically often jingoistic and patriotic nature of the English-based national news media and how that led to the grotesque caricatures of other nationalities and identities from the 19th century onwards. This ultimately led to the Euro-sceptic tradition in British newspapers which developed from the 1980s, just a decade after Britain had entered Europe, to the heated media and public debates leading up to Britain’s exit from the European Union following the Brexit referendum of 2016.

This module will enable you to identify and develop transferable skills relevant to the enhancement of employability. You will foster initiative through an evaluative approach to the assessment of work experience or career planning in the context of academic career planning. This will require you to produce a sustained and evidenced piece of critical reflection.

This module poses the question: why is popular fiction popular, and how does it maintain that popularity across a range of narrative media, including books, films, TV, comics and even games?  This module offers you the opportunity to analyse storytelling across a variety of commercial narrative media forms.  We currently examine two case studies - the genres of detective fiction and the thriller and consider how they adapt to changing cultural climates from the 19th century to the present day. We also analyse the production and consumption of popular fiction within the context of creative, economic and institutional imperatives, to see how publishers, film companies, and other makers and distributors of media predict and fail to predict - what will be popular.