Bachelor of Arts in American Studies - Popular Culture and Media Studies

DePaul University

The Popular Culture and Media Studies concentration in American Studies offers students an opportunity to explore the rich and complex role popular culture has played and continues to play in American life. In contrast to high culture or folk culture forms, "popular culture" generally refers to those commercialized leisure activities or arts that are broadly accessible to most Americans, either through their mass media production (music, radio, film, television, novels, newspapers, magazines, fashion) or wide availability (amusement parks, concerts, sports, Broadway shows, shopping malls, internet sites). Since the end of the nineteenth century, American culture has been defined through its popular arts, most obviously Hollywood films and television programs, and American popular culture and media products have had enormous effects on American identity. In this concentration, students integrate courses from a number of disciplines, combining those that offer broad surveys of cultural development as well as close examinations of particular cultural products students should also look for courses that offer a variety of methodological approaches to studying American popular culture.