BSc (Hons) Media and Communication Bachelor's degree at the University of Surrey

This module introduces students to the history and origins of the discipline of Sociology. Students gain an in-depth understanding of the historical conditions that allowed key theorists to start questioning and conceptualising the social world around them. Students will learn about these key theorists by exploring how they comprehensively attempted to explain how social order was maintained within the social world. We explore the work of Durkheim, Marx and Weber who, collectively, are often ass

This compulsory Year 1 module will introduce students to the study of media and communication though an exploration of central theoretical and conceptual debates in the field of media and communications as a social science and consideration of a range of contemporary topics, themes and examples. The module integrates this introduction to key conceptual concepts and themes with the development of key study skills. The substantive components of the module locate media and communication as an inter

The module will examine different case studies, concepts, and debates of new media developments in relation to media technologies, media participation and the relationship between media production and consumption in the digital age. It will enhance student skills in digital capabilities, resourcefulness and resilience, and address employability skills. The module will critically evaluate different approaches to contemporary issues in media and communication in the digital age and examine the str

This module introduces students to the role and significance that popular culture plays in everyday society. Students explore how mediated societies have placed popular culture at the centre of our lives as we engage with it in its various forms in every aspect of our lives. The course covers the everyday significance of contemporary popular culture in an ever increasingly mediated society, including visual/screen media; music, and celebrity/tabloid culture. It also focuses upon the analysis of

This module introduces students to the ways that different visual media construct different visual cultures. Visual imagery in culture does not simply reflect reality, but is active in constructing certain realities and not others. Students will be supported in developing key skills in analysing and interpreting visual media, which may include photography, film and television, advertisements, music videos, video games and other digital imagery. The module provides students with an introduction t

This module introduces students to qualitative and quantitative approaches to research design, methodology and data analysis, and considers how recent innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) influence how we conduct research. Part A focuses on qualitative field methods, including in-depth interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic observation, and their place within the wider research process. Students will explore the insights and possibilities generated by qualitative research as well as s

This module expands student knowledge of the role of media and media industries in contemporary societies, placing particular emphasis on questions of domination, influence, regulation, control and inequality. We examine contrasting perspectives on the ways in which societies should regulate and manage media, covering public service broadcasting, neo-liberalism, ownership and control and questions of censorship. Students will also examine the relationship between media, social cohesion and diffe

An understanding of how audiences engage with media content is fundamental to the study of media and communication. This module supports students to develop a critical appreciation of the role played by audiences and users in contemporary media-saturated societies and to understand how people from diverse social positionings may engage actively with media in different ways. Students will learn about key developments in audience research, tracing changes in media environments, audience practices

International migration has increasingly become a focus of attention across a range of academic disciplines as well as for politicians, policy makers and the media. Various factors - and combinations of factors - global political and economic restructuring, mobilities, conflicts, ambitions – mean more people move across international boundaries. With the increasing movement of people governments in Britain and Europe have been tightening control on the entry of migrants and making entry ever mor