Communication and Culture: Unit 2
Sample Titles for COMM2
Section A: Readings
Exploration
In contrast to the investigation, the second reading of 1,000 words asks the candidate to move away from the personal to an examination of their culture and the cultural practices within it. Best responses achieve a critical distance which is informed by the opinions and views of others, rewarded through Assessment Objective 4.
Site B:
Topics Family Life
1. Outnumbered? Power relationships in the family
2. The one and only: exploring the myth of the only child
3. Family fictions: The Simpsons as a representation of the modern family
4. Single parent families: subverting the norm or becoming the norm?
5. Virtual reunion: the impact of social networking sites on adopted families
6. TV Dinners and Takeaways: Exploring the impact of the decline in family mealtimes
7. Selling the family: reading representations of the family in advertising
8. Shooting the family: the construction of family life in home movies/photographs
9. The connected family; how communication technology keeps the family in touch
10. Why don’t families understand teenagers?
She’s got wheels: transportation as cultural practice.
1. Blades of glory: rollerblading as transportation
2. The micro-scooter: a symbol of the noughties?
3. Gotta feel for my automobile: personifying the car
4. Riding in style: exploring the limo phenomenon
5. The four-wheeled status symbol: the meaning of prams
6. Sk8er Boi: Skateboarding and gender
7. Riding the school bus: transport and socialisation
8. Is that a catalytic converter in your pocket? Rebranding the car as saviour of the environment
9. Full metal jacket: cars as adornment
10. A tour de force: the renaissance of the bicycle
In my room: personal places and their wider cultural significance.
This topic allows a lot of opportunity for a range of interesting responses. However, it is important that the chosen room is first of all defined and that it allows for an exploration of the various functions, cultural practices, values and expectations of those who use/live in it. The room selected may be real or fictional and indeed, to achieve a degree of objectivity and critical distance, students may be advised to explore a room which belongs to someone else. Students should be encouraged to consider why a particular room is important for a given individual, what functions it serves and what it tells others about that room’s inhabitant.
1. Why is the teenage bedroom often a source of family conflict?
2. From the Aga to the microwave: the changing face of the contemporary kitchen.
3. My sister’s bedroom: exploring pink and purple.
4. The Living Room: a ‘vivisection’.
5. My posh friend’s bedroom is bigger than our lounge! Exploring the spatial metaphor.
6. The Trotter’s Living Room: how the other ‘arf live.
7. Sitting in their Sitting Room: the Simpsons and family values.
8. The science lab: just another classroom?
9. My Dad’s workshop: more than just a room for his tools.
10. Back to the past: my Nan’s front room.
