American Values in the Print Media

By critically engaging with elements of popular and mainstream culture, students will come to appreciate better the role of the mass media in the socialization process and to understand the regulative function of the values supporting contemporary capitalist societies.
(1) To help students understand how dominant American values are reflected in, and reinforced by the mainstream media
(2) To demonstrate the role of print media in shaping and diffusing social norms in mainstream American culture
(3) To help students problematize hegemonic discourses as transmitted through material culture