Soc of mass media, week 10

| Gabriel |

On Monday I talked about cultural capital and on Wednesday I did cultural consecration. Since UCLA is on the quarter system, ten weeks and we’re done, so back to a monomaniacal devotion to research.

The best way to get the whole course (including the slides) is the ITunes U link.

Soc of Mass Media, week 9

| Gabriel |

On Monday I did logics of gatekeeping in the entertainment industry: aesthetics, fads, and research. On Wednesday I did journalism “objectivity,” both how it is practiced (Tuchman) and where it came from historically (Starr).

Next week, cultural capital and cultural consecration. Since UCLA is on the quarter system, that’ll be it.

Soc of Mass Media, week 8

| Gabriel |

On Monday’s lecture I talked about social networks, especially creativity and status. On Wednesday I discussed genre, including producer coordination, audience reception, and trajectory. Next week I’m doing gatekeeping and the origins and practice of journalist objectivity.

Soc of Mass Media, weeks 6 and 7

| Gabriel |

Monday of last week I talked about starving artists and Baumol’s disease. (Note, there was some technical trouble last Monday so fast forward to 2:30 to skip it). Wednesday I talked about long-term contracts (and, following Gary Becker, whether human capital development is carried by the firm or the worker) and about Galenson’s conceptualist/ experimentalist dichotomy. There was no class this Monday for presidents’ day. This wednesday, I talked about team work, especially (Baker and Faulkner on) role combination/separation, (myself, Esparza, and Bonacich) on spillovers, and (Faulkner and Anderson) on sorting.

Next week, I’m doing social networks and genre. The latter lecture will be a new prep for me but I’ve been increasingly interested in it because of Jenn and Pete’s paper, Greta Hsu’s work on Hollywood, Ezra’s work on typecasting, and my own work on reggaeton. It’s older, but I also see Becker’s Art Worlds as being mostly about genre, especially the “conventions” chapter. Overall, the course was originally organized around the soc 101 trifecta of capital, labor, and state, but I’ve gradually moved away from that framework and made it increasingly organized around active research concerns in sociology (especially econ soc) rather than our discipline’s quaint pedagogical obsession with our imagined past.

Just a reminder, the best way to get the course is ITunes U as I include a pdf of the slides in the RSS and I mark-up the meta-text of the MP3s. There’s also a generic RSS feed for non-ITunes users, but unfortunately I don’t have the admin rights to mark it up and add non-audio content.

Soc of Mass Media, week 5

| Gabriel |

Monday’s lecture was on the Peterson + Berger model of creative destruction in recorded music. There’s no Wednesday lecture because I’m giving the midterm (hint: the answer to the second question is “just because”).

Next week is artistic careers, including starving artists, Baumol’s disease, deHavilland, and Galenson’s experimentalist/conceptualist dichotomy.

Soc Mass Media, week 4

| Gabriel |

Monday’s lecture was about the business logic of large media corporations and Marxist hegemony theory. Wednesday’s lecture was about the Hotelling model of product variety and monopoly. Next week there’s only one lecture because I’m giving a midterm. The lecture will be on Peterson and Berger (and the Lopes/Dowd extensions of the same) on product variety and monopoly, which I make a case is in it’s mature form really a niche partitioning model with Schumpeterian twist.

Sorry for the light-posting for the last couple weeks. Between a really nasty and persistent cold, giving a guest lecture to our pro-seminar, and having to read 30 graduate applications a week I’ve been exhausted.

Soc of Mass Media, week 3

| Gabriel |

There was no lecture on Monday for MLK. Wednesday’s lecture was on media ownership policy. The next three lectures will be about the consequences of corporate media ownership.

Soc of Mass Media, week 2

| Gabriel |

I now have a real page on ITunes U. I suggest this version as (unlike the Bruincast RSS), I’ve edited the meta-text to have informative “name” and “comments” fields.

On Monday’s lecture I talked about the superstar effect. On Wednesday’s lecture I talked about promotion, including payola. Next Monday is MLK day but on Wednesday I’m doing antitrust.

Soc of Mass Media, week 1

| Gabriel |

I’m podcasting my soc of mass media undergrad course this term. I’m hoping to annotate the metadata and add it to ITunes U, but for now there’s a regular RSS feed.

• Class website see the weekly subpages for slides, outlines, and citations.
• Podcast RSS (generic)
• Podcast RSS (ITunes)

On Monday’s lecture I gave the intro and a broad overview of the course design and theories that will be covered, followed by some bureaucratic housekeeping. On Wednesday’s lecture I talked about the implications of the media being a high fixed-cost, low marginal cost industry. Next week I’m doing the superstar effect and the struggle to coopt promotional media (e.g., payola).

Also of possible interest, my colleague Mark Kleiman is podcasting his drug policy class. If you’re not familiar with Mark’s work, he basically has an ambitious proposal to drastically cut incarceration and recidivism by instituting an extremely aggressive parole/probation system.