EN2832 Popular Music and Social Life

Part I

Course Duration: 1 semester
Credit Units: 3
Level: B2
Medium of Instruction: English
Prerequisites: Nil
Precursors: Nil
Equivalent Courses: Nil
Exclusive Courses: Nil


Part II

Course Aims
This course aims at enabling students to identify the social role of commercial popular music in consumer society.  The central focus is on helping students to analyse how popular music articulates the relationships among youth cultures, consumption, ideology, emotions/passion, and practices of resistance.  It is divided into 4 parts in which students will:

  1. Describe key concepts in studies of popular music and society; these concepts have come from critical theory, neo-liberal economics, and sociology of consumption;
  2. Apply these concepts to analyse the role played by popular music in social life, by analysing the intertextual meanings of lyrics, performer’s iconography, genres, and popular music industry in national and international settings;
  3. Apply these concepts to analyse the relationship between popular music and the formation of social identities, including gender and racial identities, youth identities, and political identities;
  4. Apply these concepts to compare the history and practices of popular music in Hong Kong, with that in the U.S.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No. CILOs Weighting
(if applicable)
1.

Describe key concepts in studies of popular music and society

N/A

2.

Apply these concepts to analyse the role played by popular music in social life, by analysing the intertextual meanings of lyrics, performer’s iconography, genres, and popular music industry in national and international settings

N/A

3.

Apply these concepts to analyse the relationship between popular music and the formation of social identities, including gender and racial identities, youth identities, and political identities

N/A

4.

Apply these concepts to compare the history and practices of popular music in Hong Kong, with that in the U.S.

N/A

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

CILO No.

TLAs

Hours/week
(if applicable)

CILO 1

Interactive lectures and activities to introduce and exemplify key concepts
Students do assigned readings and study-questions on the readings

 

CILOS 2-4

Interactive lectures and activities to lead students in applying the concepts to:

  • analyse the role played by popular music in social life, by analysing the intertextual meanings of lyrics, performer’s iconography, genres, and popular music industry in national and international settings;
  • analyse the relationship between popular music and the formation of social identities, including gender and racial identities, youth identities, and political identities;
  • compare the history and practices of popular music in Hong Kong, with that in the U.S.

a. Students do assigned readings and study-questions on the readings.

b. Students do collaborative projects in small groups to investigate one of the above topics.

 

Assessment Tasks/Activities
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

CILO No

Type of assessment tasks/activitiesWeighting(if applicable)Remarks
CILOs 1-4Participation and contribution to in-class discussions and activities
Students are assessed according to how actively they engage in and contribute to the weekly in-class discussions and activities, through which they learn to describe and give accounts and examples of concepts, and apply these concepts to analyse various topics on popular music and social life.		10% 
CILOs 1-4Class work
These in-class tasks are designed to help students acquire skills to do research in popular music and apply theoretical concepts to critically analyse popular musical texts.		30% 
CILOs 1-4Individual presentations and group project report
Students will design and conduct a small-scale group project to explore one of the following topics:
  • analyse the role played by popular music in social life, by analysing the intertextual meanings of lyrics, performer’s iconography, genres, and popular music industry in national and international settings;
  • analyse the relationship between popular music and the formation of social identities, including gender and racial identities, youth identities, and political identities;
  • compare the history and practices of popular music in Hong Kong, with that in the U.S.
Students will collect data from relevant sources, analyse and discuss their findings as a group (of 5 students), report individual findings in an oral presentation (25 minutes per group/5 minutes per student), and present the entire study in a written group project report (4,000 words per group/800 words per student).		20% + 40%  


Grading of Student Achievement:
Grading pattern: Standard (A+, A, A-….F).
Grading is based on student performance in assessment tasks/activities.


Part III

Keyword Syllabus
popular music; industry; affect; youth culture; consumer society; fun; music marketing; identities; gender; pop music in Asia

Related Links
Department of English