120158 AR Interdisciplinary Course (501) = Proseminar Cultural Studies (2010S)

By examining the case-study of Britain in the decades after the Second World War this course introduces key ways of thinking about the relationship between different media forms and wider processes of social, economic and political change. The period 1945 to 1970 has been chosen because it encompasses a range of exciting innovations and developments in the media and in British culture. This was a time when the Arts Council, Independent Television and the Beatles all made an impact on British society. Cultural life was thoroughly transformed, with an increase in disposable income (especially among the working class) ushering in new patterns of leisure and consumption. 'High' culture also underwent considerable change, with new approaches to literature, poetry and drama coming to the fore. In the sphere of politics, meanwhile, the feelings of optimism and confidence that immediately followed the end of the war gradually gave way to a sense of conflict, crisis and uncertainty. It was also during this period that media and cultural studies began to emerge as distinct areas of study in British academia, with figures such as Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall pioneering new ways of thinking about culture and its relationship to economic and political structures. This course, then, considers key changes, both in the nature of British media and culture, and in the ways scholars have studied and made sense of them.