pop culture

There will be three assignments for this course. One week before the due date you will receive a selection of questions. Your task is to write a reflection essay on one of these questions. Electronic submissions through Avenue are the sole method for your submission of the assignment. The assignment is a reflection paper not a demonstration of your ability to repeat the thoughts of the course instructor. You are asked to provide your own thoughts. Your own thought is not a long-held opinion or a reaction but instead represents your fresh thoughtful consideration of the topic being addressed. You will be graded in relation to the depth of your insight and the clarity with which you express your thoughts. Brilliance is not expected or demanded. Honest and thoughtful engagement is a prerequisite to a high mark on these assignments.

Second Assignment – Social Psychology of Popular Culture: Music

Due Date: March 10, 2026 (for those seeking comments along with their grade)

Second Due Date: March 20th (but no comments)

NOTE: SAS Accommodations refer to the first deadline only.

Maximum Length: Five Doubled Spaced Pages (approximately)

This assignment is the same, in structure, as the first assignment and the advice provided for that paper, also applies to this one. You must provide significant consideration of lecture material (not just a brief mention). Remember, this is a social psychology course.

Lecture Choices:

Love Songs

Identity and Music

Angry and Protest Music/Rebellion

Write a reflective essay on ONE of the following questions/prompts:

1. How do you understand the gendered dynamic (in songs, accordingly, by those who identify as male and those who identify as female) about songs that purport to be about love? Are we still holding onto many of the same stereotypes about gender and relationships that have been present the past few decades or is this changing? What are the coping mechanisms/solutions that are offered in love songs for heartbreak, and which are they: coping mechanism or solution (and is there a difference between the two)? What is the social psychology of popular love songs telling us about how we connect with each other? Is there anything new in the relationship song of today?

2. Many of our popular songs encourage bravado and confidence. Many others express a feeling of proud lostness with an emphasis on the consumption of alcohol. We seem to have an uncomfortable relationship with responsibility and blame. The phrase fake it until you make it continues to resonate in our culture. Is this just for public speaking and job interviews or does it apply to other aspects of life? Does this phrase also extend to friendships, relationships, and how we think of ourselves? Is the idea of authenticity no longer useful to our lives? Does our modern popular song advertise poses and persona over actual identity or is there no such thing, anymore, as actual identity? Is belief about who we are the same as our truth?

3. I offered in lecture that modern identity has become, socially speaking, choosing between which persona you are going to present. We want to manage our social experiences. A byproduct of this has been an increase in conformity when it comes to the acceptance of popular ideas of social norms, success and the person you need to be to be competitive. In the past, we had songs that were about feeling disenchanted with the modern world and rejecting it as an authority if that is what it is to be a winner, I would rather be a loser. What is the status of our social psychological identity, are we doing okay, or failing our way to success? What does your response say about the ways that our social psychology defends or critiques systemic success as understood by our popular music?

4. Is our popular music, and the social psychology it presents, an ally to us or an enemy? Can allies and enemies be united? How do we understand what it is to be inspired, to be good, to be truthful, to be happy, to live better lives? I offered in the in-campus lecture that we have been recently presented with an idea of revolution that suggests forgetting about worldly success, returning to our communities, sharing meals, and dancing to the joyful beats of our common lives. Is this an attractive notion? What has your social psychology, and its connections to popular song, taught you the most about the world you live in: fear or joy? Has it taught you to worry or about the need to dance?