Youth and Popular Culture (EDUC30067)
Undergraduate level 3Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject explores how children and young people construct and reconstruct their sense of selves against the backdrop of pervasive contemporary popular cultures. It examines contrasting approaches to identity (e.g. developmental, sociological, feminist, post-structuralist) and contemporary debates about the place of popular culture and the media and entertainment industries in children and young people's lives.
The subject analyses the ways in which children and young people appropriate and colonise symbols, meanings, images and styles from different popular cultural media. Popular cultures provide resources for identity construction, for meaning-making and for political uses. The subject explores the ways in which popular cultures draw on global images in local settings.
An indicative list of topics in this subject is: the uses of cultural commodities in children and young people's construction of gendered, classed and racialised identity/ies; childhoods, global capital and multinational companies; the role of the Internet; children and young people as cultural consumers and as cultural producers.
Intended learning outcomes
On completing this subject, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationships between children's and young people's identity formation and popular culture
- Critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives on the role of popular culture in the making of childhood and youth cultures
- Clearly identify the place of global capital and the media and entertainment industries in the commodification of childhood
- Understand the impact of new technologies on popular youth cultures
- Clearly identify the place of global forms of popular culture and how these are appropriated by youth to frame local cultures.
Generic skills
This subject will assist students to develop the following transferable skills:
- Critical and creative thinking
- Linking theory and practice
- Awareness of social and cultural diversity in communities
- Social and civic awareness and participation.
Last updated: 29 April 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Non-allowed subjects
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 29 April 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Group oral presentation (30 minutes in total)
| Mid semester | 40% |
Essay
| During the examination period | 60% |
| Hurdle requirement: This subject has a minimum hurdle requirement of 80% attendance at all tutorials, seminars and workshops. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Additional details
Essays and assignments comprising 4000 words or equivalent.
Last updated: 29 April 2025
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Principal coordinator Hernan Cuervo Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 36 hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 28 July 2025 to 26 October 2025 Last self-enrol date 8 August 2025 Census date 1 September 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 26 September 2025 Assessment period ends 21 November 2025 Semester 2 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 29 April 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
- Breadth options
This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Biomedicine
- Bachelor of Commerce
- Bachelor of Design
- Bachelor of Environments
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Animation)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Film and Television)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Music Theatre)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Screenwriting)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre)
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art)
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Links to additional information
Study Breadth in the Faculty of Education: https://education.unimelb.edu.au/study/breadth
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 29 April 2025