Topic: Burlesque (1900s
Module 2: Assignment – Pop Culture
Purpose
This assignment provides you with an opportunity to research a piece of American pop culture and analyze its influence on human behavior in society both then and now.
This assignment is aligned with the module learning objectives #2, 5, and 10.
Directions
After reading the culture chapter in the OpenStax text, you should be familiar with what is meant by popular culture. You are surrounded everyday by pop culture influences such as fashion, mass media, music, consumer goods, and celebrity pop culture icons.
For example, the Social Media phenomenon of today is greatly influencing the way we present ourselves to others we know and don’t know, how we communicate with one another, how we define ‘friends’, how we receive our new and what we consider to be important information in our daily lives. This is an example of how influential popular culture can be.
Pop Culture Project Objective: Research a piece of American pop culture and analyze the influence on human behavior in society both then and now.
- Sign up for a pop culture topic within the Pop Culture Sign Up Sheet (provided on the next page). One topic per person is allowed. I have included the decade in which the topic was popular.
- Browse through the online encyclopedia I have provided for you entitled, Pop Culture Universe. You will find various decades of popular culture influences such as consumer products, music, television, fashion, and icons that defined different decades in American culture. This will familiarize you with the decade that houses your topic. You should become familiar with some of the social and political influences of the decade as these often contribute to how pop culture is both created and received by a mass audience.
- Research your topic for material to present in a PowerPoint presentation.
- In your presentation, you should analyze the pop culture topic using the sociological imagination. You should use information from any chapter(s) that correspond to your topic and you understand the sociological imagination. analyze your topic in Context. Using the sociological lens address how a sociologist would explain the birth and rise in popularity of your chosen form of culture. Examine the social/political environment, the current events, societal structure, of the time.
- In addition to the sociological imagination, you will choose, describe, and apply two concepts from the course that correspond to your topic.
- Create a PowerPoint presentation of 6-8 slides that shares the information you learned about your pop culture topic. Include points:
- The decade in which this pop culture is housed and a few things that defined this decade (social/political events)
- What it is and how it began
- Who was the most influenced by this form of pop culture and why. Just how popular did this phenomenon become?
- Is there a form of this pop culture that exists today but may have advanced or changed in shape or form? (example, vinyl records can now be associated with CDs of today).
- Visual examples of this pop culture (you may include video clips and pictures).
