Macquarie University

Visual Sociology - SOC221

In light of the fact that the visual has become such an important aspect of social life, this unit will focus on the following themes: 1) The unit will explore use of analogue photography in documenting social life in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries in both America and Australia. The work of Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine will be featured. Of interest here is the way that this documentation might have been affected by the kind technology available. 2) The way other materials are used to document social life will be featured, including feature film, sketches, cartoons, paintings, graffiti and the internet. We will also note the way that instruments and technologies of the visual have linked up with aesthetic concerns. 3) Advertising as a field of inquiry will then be addressed. Here, the emphasis will be on learning how to analyse advertisements using a variety of methods, such as semiotics and phenomenology. Particular emphasis will be placed on questions about the interpretation and presentation of the visual being discussed. Some implications relating to the emergence of the digital image will be examined, particularly with regard to the manipulation of the image so prominent in advertising. Also, the advantages or otherwise of the analogue image will be considered.

Timetable Information

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