HPSC0013

What science gets covered in print, on TV and online? How and why is that material selected? How can we investigate the effects of media coverage on public knowledge of or attitudes towards science?

Science in Popular Culture

An introduction to media studies for those interested in relations between science and the media. The module gives a short survey of relevant empirical and theoretical work in media studies, and public engagement with science

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Course Objectives:

Together, we will develop our skills as critical consumers, producers & regulators of science in popular culture across different media. We’ll watch films and TV programmes, we’ll explore science on social media, we’ll dissect skin cream adverts and we’ll visit museums. We’ll think too, about how popular culture influences science, such that science and popular culture may not be as separable as you might first think! Key themes of this module are

• 1) thinking about the relationships between producers and publics,
• 2) thinking about how science is represented (both in terms of who is represented and epistemology) 
• 3) thinking about science and popular culture in terms of dominant cultural practices.

UCL Module Catalogue: Science and Popular Culture (HPSC0013)