Course Syllabus

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Course Information

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 This course will serve as both an introduction to fundamental ideas of Marxist thought, as well as an overview of key scholarly popular music traditions that draw from and revise Marxist theory and an introduction to contemporary issues in popular music and capitalism. Our analytic lens will be oriented around two core strategies: analyze popular music from a “production” perspective (consider issues such as labor, class, and production), as well as from an aesthetic perspective, examining the extent to which musical case studies provide ideological or hegemonic support for the material system of capitalism. We will also consider the ways in which capitalism and popular music are shaped by and shape gender, race and sexuality.

CREDITS

 4 Credits

INSTRUCTOR

 Rosie Dwyer (rsdwyer@ucsd.edu)

TAs

Stefani Quintin (squintin@ucsd.edu)

AM Medina (a3medina@ucsd.edu)

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (By the end of the class, you will be able to:)

  • Explain the Marxist critique of capitalism and why it is significant today (UNDERSTAND)
  • Describe how core terms in the Marxist tradition have been used and revised by theorists of popular culture (UNDERSTAND)
  • Draw connections between the Marxist critique of capitalism and your own experiences (APPLY)
  • Interpret labor and production issues in popular music through the lens of Marxist political economic concepts, including class, labor, and mode of production (ANALYZE)
  • Analyze the musical aesthetics of songs and music videos through the lens of ideology and hegemony (ANALYZE)
  • Formulate an original argument about the extent to which a song, video, or artist relates to, supports or resists capitalism, drawing from the tradition of Marxist ideology critique (CREATE)
  • Create a historical-materialist informed hypothesis about how musical creation, aesthetics and enjoyment might be different in a future mode of production (CREATE)

Course Format

This is a synchronous lecture course, which means that we will meet together in the same virtual space (Zoom!) for class meetings and sections.

CLASS MEETING

  • Mondays & Wednesdays, 2-4pm
  • https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/95704808710

PROJECT LAB

Course Materials

I will post all required readings to our modules on Canvas, which you can read online or download. You do not need to purchase any books for this course.

Assignments, Projects and Grading

SUMMARY OF GRADE CRITERIA

Assessment Type Weight Due Date
Meetings
Class Meeting 10%
Project Lab 5%
Assignments
Assignment #1: Keyword Video 15% Week 2, Tuesday (8/9)
Assignment #2: Music and Labor Project (3 mini-components) 15% Week 4, Wednesday (3 mini components; see link)
Projects
Project #1: Op-Ed 30% Week 4, Monday (8/22)
Project #2: Group Media Project 25% Week 5, Friday (9/3)

(Follow Assessment Links to Learn More)

LATE WORK POLICY

If you are facing circumstances in your life or work that are making it difficult for you to complete an assignment on time, please reach out as soon as possible. Late assignments will receive a deduction of 4% for each day that they are late. 

GRADING PROCEDURE AND FEEDBACK

For all four assignments, I will provide a rubric beforehand, which will outline what an exceptionally completed assignment “A” assignment must accomplish.

If you feel that you have been given an unfair grade, you may write a one page paper explaining how your essay fulfilled the criteria of the rubric in ways that were not respected by the grade you received. Your TA and I will review the paper and meet with you to discuss it.

Link to grading scale

PARTICIPATION

Attendance is required for both class meetings and the project lab. Your participation will be a holistic score based on both attendance in course meetings and participation in in-class assignments and reflections.

MISSED CLASS POLICY

To support students who might need to miss class for family, health, or personal reasons, I am creating a policy that will allow for students to miss up to two class meetings without impact on your grade. For the meetings at which you are absent, you can receive credit by submitting a reflection in which you 1) summarize a reading due the day you were absent, and 2) explain how it connects with themes from the corresponding lecture slides (500 words). You must submit this by Friday of the week you miss class in order to receive credit. Submit here.

Campus & Course Policies

Support and Educational Resources

Course Schedule of Readings

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due