Mass Communication and Society
Examines theory building and comparison of communication process theories linking mass media to societal institutions, individuals, and micro-social systems.
Summary
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 3.89 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=5 letter grades).
What you’ll be able to do
Examine the (often unquestioned) models of communication in society that inform our own areas of research.
Critique influential works of social theory that have been widely adopted in the study of media and communication, as well as critical perspectives interrogating that work.
Explore what role(s) do media and communication play in the argument about how human societies are structured, how they change, how power is reproduced, what variables count in studying society.
Compare the conceptual tools theories offer for studying questions of interest to scholars of media and communication.
Critically evaluate how different theory's central ideas and assumptions impact research in our own respective subfields, whether political communication, journalism studies, disinformation studies, etc.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGraduate/professional standing
- Graduate/professional standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Graduate/professional standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 3.89 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2023: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=5 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
No workload feedback recorded.
Topics
- Theory building and comparison of communication process theories.
- Relationships between mass media, societal institutions, individuals, and micro-social systems.
- Roles of media and communication in societal structure, change, and power reproduction.
Skills
- Critiquing influential works of social theory and critical perspectives in media and communication studies.
- Building and comparing theories of communication processes relating mass media to societal institutions, individuals, and micro-social systems.
- Evaluating how theoretical assumptions impact research in subfields like political communication and journalism studies.
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2024— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2024
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
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Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
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Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
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