| Course Type | Compulsory Course |
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| Course Level | Bachelor's Degree |
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| Year of Study | 2 |
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| Semester | Third Term (Fall) |
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| ECTS | 3 |
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| Name of Lecturer(s) |
|
| Learning Outcomes |
At the end of this course, the students;
- Can define the fundamental theories, concepts, and schools of thought in the sociology of communication, analyzing social events and communication processes through a sociological lens.
- Critically deciphers the mechanisms of consent, power, hegemony, and ideological production within mass media, digital platforms, and visual media.
- Can analyze the forms of representation of phenomena such as gender, identity, body politics, and consumer culture in visual communication practices and media.
- Can evaluate the effects of postmodernism, the hyperreal universe, surveillance capitalism, and algorithmic society dynamics on the individual and society.
- Can project theoretical and sociological foundations to bring intellectual depth to visual design, content creation, and brand/communication strategies.
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| Mode of Delivery | Face to face |
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| Prerequisites | No |
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| Recommended Optional Programme Components | |
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| Course Description | How do visuals, algorithms, and discourses construct the social structure? This course approaches communication not merely as information transfer, but as a sociological battleground where relations of power, identity, and representation are reproduced. Spanning a range from the Frankfurt School to digital network sociology, and from feminist critique to algorithm fetishism and the hyperreal universe, it aims to read the codes of society. The objective is to enable students to process visual culture and the digital media ecosystem through a critical lens, equipping them with the intellectual depth required to become conscious visual strategists who shape social dynamics. |
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| Course Contents |
| WEEK |
TOPICS |
|
1st Week |
Orientation and Course Overview. The Relationship Between Sociology, Communication, and Visual Culture. The Role of Visual Media in Reading Social Structure. |
|
2nd Week |
Mass Communication Theories, Propaganda, and Persuasion Techniques (From Mass Culture to Network Culture). |
|
3rd Week |
Structuralism and Power. Pierre Bourdieu (Habitus, Capital, Judgment of Taste) and Noam Chomsky (Manufacturing Consent). |
|
4th Week |
Capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, and the Media. Reification, Commodity Fetishism, and Visual Consumption. |
|
5th Week |
Post-Structuralism, Discourse, and Power. Michel Foucault (From Panopticon to Digital Surveillance, Body Politics, and the Gaze) and Jacques Derrida (Deconstruction). |
|
6th Week |
Semiotics and Representation. Roland Barthes (Mythologies, Bourgeois Society, and Semiotics of Advertising/Fashion) and Julia Kristeva. |
|
7th Week |
MIDTERM EXAM |
|
8th Week |
Feminist Sociology of Communication and Body Politics. Luce Irigaray, Carole Pateman (Sexist Discourse, Politics of Representation, and Women in Visual Media). |
|
9th Week |
The Public Sphere and Social Movements. Hannah Arendt, Alain Touraine (From the Physical Public Sphere to the Digital Public Sphere and Digital Activism). |
|
10th Week |
Individualization, Conflict, and Urban Sociology. Georg Simmel (The Metropolis and Mental Life, Money Culture, Fashion) and Friedrich Nietzsche. |
|
11th Week |
Consumer Society and the Hyperreal Universe. Jean Baudrillard (Simulacra, Domination of Images) and Jean-François Lyotard (Language Games). |
|
12th Week |
Digital Sociology and Contemporary Critiques. Byung-Chul Han (The Transparency Society, The Burnout Society, Saving Beauty / Aesthetic of Smoothness) and Shoshana Zuboff (Surveillance Capitalism, Algorithmic Society). |
|
13th Week |
Sociology of Communication in Turkey and Local Media Dynamics. İdris Küçükömer and Behice Boran (Civil Society, Press Freedom, and Ideology). |
|
14th Week |
FINAL EXAM |
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| Recommended or Required Reading | Mandatory Reading List:
Debord, Guy. Gösteri Toplumu, Ayrıntı Yayınları.
Baudrillard, Jean. Tüketim Toplumu, Ayrıntı Yayınları.
Reccomended Reading List:
Maigret, Eric. Medya ve İletişim Sosyolojisi, İletişim Yayınları.
Öztürk, Serdar. Türkiye?de İletişim Sosyolojisinin Kaynakları, Siyasal Kitabevi.
Yaylagül, Levent. Kitle İletişim Kuramları: Egemen ve Eleştirel Yaklaşımlar, Dipnot Yayınları.
Mutlu, Erol. Kitle İletişim Kuramları, Ütopya Yayınevi.
Bourdieu, Pierre. Televizyon Üzerine, Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Foucault, Michel. İktidarın Gözü, Ayrıntı Yayınları.
Arendt, Hannah. Şiddet Üzerine, İletişim Yayınları.
Han, Byung-Chul. Şeffaflık Toplumu, Metis Yayınları.
Han, Byung-Chul. Psikopolitika: Dijital Neoliberalizm ve Yeni İktidar Teknikleri, Metis Yayınları.
Zuboff, Shoshana. Gözetim Kapitalizmi Çağı, Okuyan Us Yayınları.
|
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| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods |
- Lecture
- Discussion
- Questions/Answers
- Practice
- Project
- Presentation
|
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| Assessment Methods and Criteria |
|
Quantity |
Percentage (%) |
| Mid-term |
1 |
40 |
| Attendance |
1 |
10 |
| Total(%) |
|
50 |
| Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) |
|
50 |
| Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) |
|
50 |
| Total(%) |
|
100 |
|
| ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload |
| Activities |
Quantity |
Duration (Hour) |
Total Workload (Hour) |
| Midterm exam |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Preparation for Quiz |
|
|
|
| Individual or group work |
14 |
1 |
14 |
| Preparation for Final exam |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Course hours |
14 |
3 |
42 |
| Preparation for Midterm exam |
1 |
5 |
5 |
| Laboratory (including preparation) |
|
|
|
| Final exam |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| Homework |
4 |
5 |
20 |
| Total Work Load | 90 |
| Total Work Load / 30 (h) | 3 |
| ECTS Credit of the Course | 3 |
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| Language of Instruction | Turkish |
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| Work Placement(s) | No |
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