AM ST 520, Summer 2014 TOPICS IN POPULAR CULTURE: American Studies Program, Penn State Harrisburg AM ST 520 (Sched # 269695), Summer 2014, 2nd session (7/2-8/13), MW 6-9:15 p.m. Course Website: http://cms.psu.edu Location: Olmsted Building, 212C Simon Bronner, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of American Studies & Folklore Websites: http://sites.psu.edu/bronner http://www.facebook.com/simon.bronner, http://twitter.com/simbron, https://pennstate.academia.edu/SimonBronner Office Location and Hours: W356 Olmsted Building, MW 3-5 p.m., and by appointment Address: Penn State Harrisburg. 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057-4898 Contact Information: Phone Nos.: 717-948-6039 (office), 717-948-6201 (staff), 717-948-6724 (fax) Primary email:
[email protected] Media: Skype (video call): sbronner64; Instant message (AIM): Amstdsjb CONTENTS Description and Objectives of Course … 2 Technical Requirements…3 Required Print and Electronic Texts… 5 Assignments and Grading… 6 Descriptions of Meetings… 12 Policy Statements… 20 Table of Meetings and Tasks… 24 SYLLABUS, AM ST 520 TOPICS IN POPULAR CULTURE (CONSUMER CULTURE), SUMMER 2014 DESCRIPTION OF COURSE CONTENT Popular culture is frequently connected to commercial entertainment and products distributed and consumed on a mass scale. One way to untangle the relationship of popular culture to American experience is to analyze the ways that shopping in America changed as an index of culture—the social implications, that is, of moving from a producer to consumer society. This inquiry involves questions of how a mass consumer culture built on the foundation of the localized American producer-market system in folk culture and why tradition and community developed into what we think of as a consumer- oriented popular culture.