Television Amer. Society

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the history of television and its complex relationship to American culture and society. As a source of information, a purveyor of entertainment, and a tool of socialization, television had a profound impact on almost every aspect of 20th century life. Over the past decade and a half, new technologies and media convergence have done little to erode its significance. Our investigation of the medium will begin with television’s origins in radio in the 1920s and trace its aesthetic and economic development in the ensuing decades. It will cover a range of topics from broadcast regulation to identity politics. Through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, we will consider how television shapes and is shaped by our national preoccupations.