Bath Spa University

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Cultural Studies

What is culture? How did contemporary cultures come to be the way they are? Does my culture make me what I am?

For more information about this course please visit the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries website.

This interdisciplinary course examines what culture is and the relations of culture and power. It explores the various ways in which we make sense of the world around us, and you will not only examine many different cultural practices and aspects of culture, but also the ideologies and power structures that shape them.

The course provides you with a solid introduction to the theories and methodologies of Cultural Studies, while giving you the opportunity to follow more specialised interests.

Course Structure and Content

The compulsory first-year module, 'Culture and Modernity' will pilot you into the subject and prepare you for the stimulating and diverse range of modules in Years 2 and 3.

You will study and analyse features of everyday cultures, - consumption, lifestyles, urban/suburban space, fashion, subcultures- and the place they hold in our understanding of modernity.

In Years 2 and 3 you will become familiar with a wide range of cultural practices and processes - literary, social, historical, philosophical, political, personal, filmic, technological and artistic - and the different approaches that aid our understanding of them. Your interests may be in Hollywood, international, or alternative film; popular (or unpopular!) fiction, comics, sport, subcultures or sci-fi; sexuality, gender, race or class and identity; philosophical questions of what it is to be human or political questions of culture and society.

Year 1

• Culture and Modernity: An Introduction to Cultural Studies*;
• Culture and Identity;
• Popular Media Culture;
• Introduction to Television.

Year 2

• Cultural Theory and Politics*;
• What Women Want: Feminism and Psychoanalysis;
• Ethics, Religion and Humanism: Contemporary Moral Dilemmas;
• Popular Cinema and Culture;
• Popular Fictions: Text and Screen;
• Culture and Barbarism: Legacies of the Enlightenment;
• Film and British National Identity;
• Back to the Future: Modernity and the Victorian Fin de Siecle;
• Researching the Media and Cultural Industries;
• Get In: Cultural Studies at Work*.

Year 3

• Dissertation;
• Drugs and Culture;
• Love and Desire in contemporary Culture;
• Cultural and Philosophical Manifestations of Evil and Wickedness;
• Peculiar Relations: The Cultural Politics of Friendship;
• Black American Popular Culture;
• From Existentialism to Environmentalism;
• European Cinema;
• Life and Meaning: Philosophy and the Human Condition;
• Scribbling in the Margins: Media Fandom and Participatory Culture;
• Creative and Cultural Industries Project;
• Enterprise: Creating a Business.

* Compulsory modules.

Teaching Methods and Resources

Includes lectures, seminars and individual tutorials. Teaching often incorporates group examination of material from different media, such as TV, film, magazines, newspapers and the internet.

Assessment Methods

By coursework assessment only, including essays, presentations, special assignments and projects.

Entry Requirements

220-260 UCAS Tariff points (eg BCD; BB+AS c).

Alternative qualifications welcome.