RHETORIC OF POPULAR CULTURE

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Upper-Level

What really persuades people? Many scholars consider popular culture to be the most influential persuasive force in the everyday lives of contemporary humans. Music, television, social media, film, fashion, books, and other elements of popular culture comprise a tremendous amount of the universe of meaning in which the modern human resides. This course will explore these phenomena by looking at current and historical popular cultural artifacts and trends and various ways of understanding them from a variety of fields. Students will pursue an original study of a specific artifact or trend.