L&S MAJORS

The mass media are the prime means of cultural communications in modern industrialized society. Through television, newspapers, and radio, our political, social, and even private worlds are given shape. The major in Mass Communications offers students a critical look at the media from the perspective of the social sciences. Students become familiar with the history and structure of the major media. They learn to employ social science research methods and to examine and evaluate the research literature on mass communications. Majors in the program are given the tools to evaluate critically a broad range of issues in the contemporary mass media from the consequences of television programming on social behavior to the public implications of social and technological innovation in mass communications. Emphasis in the major is on theory rather than such technical aspects of the media as advertising, public relations or broadcasting.

Lower Division Requirements and Prerequisites for the Mass Communications Major

(prerequisites indicated by asterisks)

One course from each of the following groups:

• History 7B, 124A, 124B, or 131B
• Political Science 1
• Anthropology 3, Economics 1, Psychology 1 or Psychology 2, Sociology 1 or Sociology 3
• Mass Communications 10*

Note: Students must have completed at least three of these courses, including Mass Communications 10 or an equivalent course, when applying for admission to the major.*

Applications to the major may be submitted during the fall and spring semesters from the fourth through the fifteenth week of the term. Applications are available on the bulletin board in front of 301 Campbell Hall.

Note: Please review this important information about capped majors.

Departmental Contact

Marty Gaetjens
sfyankee@berkeley.edu
301 Campbell Hall
(510) 642-2363

General Catalog Description

http://sis.berkeley.edu/catalog/gcc_view_req?p_dept_cd=MASSCOM

Departmental Website

http://ls.berkeley.edu/ugis/masscomm/index.html

Other Majors to Consider

Rhetoric
Film
American Studies
Sociology