COMM 2725 <2022-SP>	Office hours	Content
TU/FR 1:35–3:15 Ryder 209	TU appointments at 15:30+ Prof. Reagle, <j.reagle> Comm Studies, 215 Holmes Hall Tip: Enter at 41A Leon St.	Policies Assignments Rubric Resources Schedule

Course description & objectives

Genres of popular communication – be they self-help books, speculative fiction, or fashion blogs – reflect the aspirations and fears of a people at their moment in history. Simultaneously, popular communication shapes people’s sense of identity, purpose, and worth. In this course, we will engage with a specific genre, using historical and critical methods, so as to better understand this reciprocal relationship between a people and their moment.

Get Stuff Done within a 4-Hour Workweek by following The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Take a Clarity Cleanse during The Year of Yes to be well and wise. Master The Game to bed a hottie or follow The Rules to marry them. The self-help genre reflects popular aspirations and fears across work, wealth, health, relationships, and meaning. They are also laden with assumptions – and biases – about what is worthwhile and worthy. You’ll work to understand how this genre of popular communication reflects and shapes our sense of identity, purpose, and worth. You’ll even have a chance to write some self-help of your own.

Successful completion of this course enables you to:

recall, compare, and give examples of key concepts and theories in popular communication (e.g., popular & mass communication, ideology, audience reception studies);
understand how the popular shapes and is shaped by its people;
understand the historical context of the self-help genre;
critically analyze self-help with respect to social, economic, and political values and events;
demonstrate proficiency in communicating your analyses.

Policy

Active learning and the Web

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” – Confucius

This is an active learning course meaning that you will be partaking in class and group discussions, participating in class exercises, and sharing and relating what we learn to the larger world.

I also make much use of the Web. For instance, this syllabus is a Web page that I update; I expect you to bookmark it and to follow links. (If you find a broken link or typo, let me know!) You can easily find things on this page with ⌘+f. You can open links in new tabs with control-click. We will also make use of Google Docs. In emails I often use markdown conventions and respond below your quoted (‘>’) text.

Academic policies

In short, come to class on time and with the readings and assignments completed; be respectful and willing to collaborate. There are no provisions for missed exams or late assignments.

In general, if you have an issue, such as needing an accommodation for a religious obligation or disability, speak with me before it affects your performance. Do not plead afterwards. Instead, beforehand, offer proposals that show initiative and a willingness to work.

Academic Integrity is of utmost importance: “The promotion of independent and original scholarship ensures that students derive the most from their educational experience and their pursuit of knowledge.” Violations include cheating, plagiarism, and participating in or encouraging dishonesty. If you cheat on an exam, you will receive zero credit and be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. If you plagiarize seven or more words in a row, the same will follow.

We sometimes use devices in class as part of an activity, but the default policy is for gadgets to be silenced and put away. If you want to use a device throughout the course, email me a device proposal with your intended usage. Device users might also be called upon you to perform tasks such as looking things up or taking collaborative notes.

Deviations from classroom professionalism and respect may result in dismissal from class and demerits against your grade. See full course policies for more detail.

Assignments

There are 1000 points at stake over the term. This is converted to letter grades based on thresholds, without rounding. For example, 870 is a B+; 869 is not. Due dates are included in the schedule.

(200 pts) Class participation

This entails much more than (even perfect) attendance; participation is not an easy “gimme grade” and is assessed rigorously. Please see the participation rubric for more.
(200 pts) Reading responses

You are expected to read and be prepared to discuss all readings. In each half of the course you must also complete a certain number of reading responses. You must complete five responses (typically 250-350 words) by the middle of the semester and five after; do not add or edit responses after they are due. You can only write one response per class. Plan this ahead of time so you are not caught short. Absent a specific prompt, summarize and engage.

Draft and keep your responses in a Google Doc “viewable by anyone with link.” Date each entry, and spell and grammar check your writing. You can maintain a checklist of how to write an excellent response at the top of your document. (Note, GDoc now works with Grammarly, which I recommend.) Email responses to me no later than 90 minutes before class with pc-r in the subject and the prose in the body of the email (no attachments).
(2x150 pts) Film analyses

View and analyze two self-help films and write a ~800 word essay on each. Make and support a compelling thesis (e.g., a novel argument) while engaging with course content. You might, for example, touch on
1. the intentions of the film maker,
2. the assumptions and ideology that underlie the advice given, or
3. if the advice is well-founded or exploitative?

(100 pts) Be a guru

Demonstrate an understanding of self-help (1) by exemplifying the features of the genre and (2) reflecting on your use of those features (i.e., guru analysis).

Write an online post of ~700 words presenting self-help advice (e.g., zen habits, tiny buddha, and marc & angel). You must post it publicly, wherever you like (e.g., medium.com, carrd.co, or Tumblr). You can use a pseudonym – and do keep your privacy in mind. You need not believe the advice you give, the post can be exaggerated satire. If you write on a deeply personal topic, ask yourself if it’s something you want to be graded on?

On Canvas, submit a link to your post, a copy of the prose and a ~400 word preface reflecting on the piece relative to our class readings and discussions about features of the genre.

In the preface, use APA citations but you don’t need a bibliography. This will be assessed on the quality of the self-help’s writing and presentation, and the reflection’s writing and engagement with course content.

(200 = 150 pts + 50 pts) Book analysis

Select a self-help book to read and analyze. You will give a five-minute presentation and write a ~1200 word analysis. In both, briefly introduce the work and then convey a compelling thesis relative to course content and some of the questions of our “guru analyses.” Your essay should also use three external sources (e.g., book reviews, critiques, or scholarly works). Consider the writing rubric and presentation tips and rubric.

If you wish to use visuals during your presentation, link to your slides in the Slides Doc and make your deck public to everyone, not just Northeastern, so I can display them if necessary

TRACE (2pts)

Our college requires all students to complete TRACE evaluations at the end of the semester even if you (anonymously) opt-out of completing the survey. Those who send me evidence of completing TRACE receive a bonus-point.

Writing requirements

Assignments must be double-spaced, 12 point font, 1-inch margins. (One page contains approximately 250 words.) Citations and bibliography must be in the APA style. No APA cover page is required. Include your name and submit the electronic version via Canvas before class.

If you have permission to revise a written assignment for re-assessment, please see these revision instructions.

Grading Rubric

Communication Studies courses are expected, on average, to have a GPA of no more than a 3.3 (B+); this means those receiving an A or A- are in the minority. The course rubric notes that “A” students have all of the following attributes.

show mastery in assignments. Their work demonstrates impressive understanding of readings, discussions, themes and ideas. It is fluid, clear, analytical, well-organized and grammatically polished. Reasoning and logic are well-grounded and examples precise.
have virtually perfect attendance. Their commitment to the class resembles that of the teacher.
are prepared for class. They always read assignments and participate fully. Their attention to detail is such that they occasionally catch the teacher in a mistake.
show interest in the class. They look up or dig out what they don’t understand. They often ask interesting questions or make thoughtful comments.
have retentive minds. They are able to connect past learning with the present.
have a winning attitude. They have the determination, initiative, and self-discipline to succeed.

Resources

Many links to my public wiki are found through-out this syllabus (remember, ⌘+f is your friend), but I’ve gathered some of the most important ones below.

Platforms
- Canvas
- Google Docs
Northeastern: library resources, writing center, and international tutoring center
Writing
- Writing a reading response
- Writing rubric
- Choosing a topic
- Tips for writing class essays and writing guide handout
- Revision instructions
In class

Readings

Most readings are linked to from this page, if not check this zip file . I specify the chapter (ch=) or pages (pp=) to read for selections.

You will need access to the following two films.

Joe Berlinger, 2016, Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru. (Netflix)
Vikram Gandhi, 2011, Kumaré. (Prime, Youtube, iTunes, Google Play, and Northeastern’s Kanopy)

I highly recommend you get a copy of:

Diane Hacker (6th or 7th edition), A Pocket Style Manual. (I’ve seen good used copies for as little as ~$12, but sometimes the price shoots up. You shouldn’t have to pay more than $35 – and this will be useful throughout your college career and beyond.)

Note that for selections, I specify the chapter (ch=) or pages (pp=) to read.

Schedule

Jan 18 Tue - Introduction

Welcome! We introduce ourselves, cover class logistics, and begin our semester of discussion. Specifically, why is Goop so popular?

Olga Khazan, 2017, “Why Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is still so Popular?”

Also, bring a mnemonic that connects your name with a memorable image: “Imagine me …” I could say: “Imagine Prof. Reagle being chased by beagles.”

Jan 21 Fri - Self-help: History and ideology

We’ll continue our discussion of why self-help is popular and ask what ideological assumptions underly the advice given?

Heidi Marie Rimke, 2017, “Self-Help Ideology”
Boris Kachka, 2013, “The Power of Positive Publishing: How Self-help Publishing Ate America”
Kate Burt, 2009, “Messing with Your Head: Does the Man Behind Neuro-linguistic Programming Want to Change Your Life – or Control Your Mind?”

(You can do your first out of five reading responses required by mid-semester.)

Jan 25 Tue - Popular communication and culture

Self-help is a object of study within the subfield of popular communication and culture. What is culture, and what does it mean to speak of popular culture? The two classic works below are a bit difficult, so make note of concepts or claims you don’t understand, as well as those that you think are relevant to self-help (e.g., are readers of self-help “cultural dopes” of a dominating power?)

Stuart Hall, 1981, “Notes on Deconstructing ‘The Popular’,” Popular Culture: A Reader, ch=6, pp=66–71, see zip file

In this trimmed version of a classic essay, Hall considers three different definitions of popular and their strengths and weaknesses. (Focus on pages 66–71.)
John Fiske, 1989, “Understanding Popular,” Reading the Popular, ch=1.

This is the introduction chapter to a book full of 1980s popular culture case studies. This serves as a nice summary of Fiske’s complementary book Understanding Popular Culture and of thinking about this field.

Jan 28 Fri - SHAM

Salerno is a harsh critic of self-help. Absent a specific prompt, summarize and engage.

Salerno (2005), “Hopelessly Hooked on Help,” SHAM, ch=0, , see zip file
Salerno (2005), “How We Got Here-Wherever Here Is,” SHAM, ch=1
Salerno (2005), “Tony Robbins: Leaps (and Bounds) of Faith,” SHAM, ch=4

Feb 01 Tue - A self-help classic and a classic critique

In 1984, Janice Radway published Reading the Romance, an important piece of pop-culture criticism that investigated the romance genre (and its readers). This type of work came to be known as “audience reception” research, and in 1991 Debra Grodin did the same for self-help; she asked self-help readers about their motivations and thoughts about the genre. Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking is mentioned and is a classic biblical-based instance of self-help. I include a link to some Peale quotes and an article describing his book. Are there any that you like or dislike?

When you read Grodin, ask yourself if contemporary self-help fulfills a similar role and do today’s readers have similar motivations? (Ask your friends!)

Debra Grodin, 1991 “The Interpreting Audience: The Therapeutics of Self-Help Book Reading”, see zip file
Tom Butler-Bowdon, 2003, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, ch=40
Goodreads, 2018, “The Power of Positive Thinking Quotes”

Feb 04 Fri - Quackery vs science-based medicine

What is quackery and how do we distinguish it from science-based medicine?

Salerno (2005), “Patient, Heal Thyself,” SHAM, ch=11
Paul Ingraham (2014), “Why ‘science’-based instead of ‘evidence’-based?”
Stephen Barrett (2018), “Twenty-Eight Ways to Spot Quacks and Vitamin Pushers”

Feb 08 Tue - Self-help as “thin culture”

We continue with our second “audience reception” study of self-help. Now that we’ve read Salerno’s harsh critique, note how Lichterman claims such critiques are missing the point. Does Lichterman also differ with Grodin? What interpretive communities exist today? Also, review the description of and quotes from a self-help book mentioned by Lichterman.

Paul Lichterman, 1992, “Self-Help Reading as a Thin Culture”
Tom Butler-Bowdon, 2003, “The Road Less Traveled”, ch=42
Goodreads, 2018, “The Road Less Traveled Quotes”

Feb 11 Fri - Film discussion

Berlinger, 2016, Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (Netflix.)
Jane Bradley, Katie J.M. Baker, 2019, “Leaked records reveal Tony Robbins berated abuse victims, and former followers accuse him of sexual advances”

Review the Film analyses assignment and writing requirements. Turn in your film response and be prepared to discuss in class. There’s no reading response today as it’d be redundant with the assignment.

If you wish to reference a portion of the film prior during discussion, have the time stamp at hand, and I might be able to cue it up.

Feb 15 Tue - Hacking life

Reagle, 2019, “Introduction” & “The Life Hackers,” Hacking Life, ch=1,2

Feb 18 Fri - Time management

Have a look at Hamberg to get a sense of how GTD works and then consider Gregg’s critiques and if you think them fair.

Erlend Hamberg (2017), “GTD in 15 Minutes – A Pragmatic Guide to Getting Things Done,” hamberg.no
Melissa Gregg, 2015, “Getting Things Done: Productivity, Self-Management, and the Order of Things,” Networked Effect.

Feb 22 Tue - Hacking time

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Time,” Hacking Life, ch=3

Feb 25 Fri - Posture and p-hacking

A popular TED talk about the “life hack” of good posture exposed the frailties of social science.

Amy Cuddy, 2012, “Your body language shapes who you are”
Susan Dominus, 2017, “When the revolution came for Amy Cuddy” (at our library)
Christie Aschwanden, 2019, “We’re all ‘P-Hacking’ now: An insiders’ term for scientific malpractice has worked its way into pop culture. Is that a good thing?”

Review the Be a guru assignment and writing requirements. Turn in your “Be a Guru” assignment.

Mar 01 Tue - Hacking motivation

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Motivation,” Hacking Life, ch=4

Mar 04 Fri - Stuff

In this eclectic group of short readings, we’ll encounter the gendering of our relationship to stuff, past and present; the origins of “KonMari”; as well as a short-story about one man’s obsession (make note of a quote for discussing in class).

Youyou Zhou, 2017, “Who reads self-help books? Goodreads data show women are reading books written by men”
Rose C. Feld, 1926, “Vassar girls to study home-making as career new course in Euthenics; the science of human betterment, will adjust women to the needs of today and act as a check on spread of divorce”
Alexei Sayle, 2001, “Barcelona chairs,” see zip file
Barry Yourgrau, 2015, “The origin story of Marie Kondo’s decluttering empire”

DUE: 1st half of reading responses, including today. Please send me the link to your Google Doc, with sharing set to “viewable by anyone with link.”

Mar 08 Tue - Hacking stuff

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Stuff,” Hacking Life, ch=5

Mar 11 Fri - Aspirational work

We’ve seen how the hacker ethos is well suited to the authorpreneurs of the creative class. We’ve also seen it associated with masculine culture. Duffy speaks to a different set of entrepreneurs trying to make it online. What similarities and differences do you see between her subjects and life hackers?

Duffy, 2017, (Not) Getting Paid To Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work, ch=1,2

Mar 15 Tue - NO CLASS

Mar 18 Fri - NO CLASS

Mar 22 Tue - The guru and Eastern exoticism

In anticipation of discussing Kumaré and hacking meaning, how ought we understand the “exotic” facets of much of self-help, including the dangers of gurus and superstition?

Sophia Rose Arjana, 2020, “Enchantment, orientalism, and modern mysticism”
John Snelling, 2014, “Beware the charismatic gurus.”
Ellen Barry, 2013, “Battling superstition, Indian paid with his life
Oregonian, 1981, “Experts draw distinctions between cults, religions (part 18 of 20).” (Netflix’s popular Wild, Wild, Country (2018) is about this Rajneesh cult.)

Mar 25 Fri - Cosmetic surgery

Cosmetic surgery is the most corporeal type of self-help and improvement. What are it’s implications for well-being of the self and others, especially in light of narrow and bigoted beauty standards? (This is a student nominated topic.)

Bring a specific quote from Elliott that you’d like to share.

Carl Elliott, 2003, “Resident aliens” in Better than well, ch=8, see zip file.
Julia Belluz, 2018, “Snapchat plastic surgery trend more people want their faces to look like edited photos”.

Mar 29 Tue - Film discussion

Vikram Gandhi, 2011, Kumaré. (Prime, Youtube, iTunes, Google Play, and Northeastern’s Kanopy)

Review the Film analyses assignment and writing requirements. Turn in your film response and be prepared to discuss in class. There’s no reading response today.

If you wish to reference a portion of the film prior to your point or question, have the exact time stamp at hand, and I might be able to cue it up.

Apr 01 Fri - Health & self in modernity

Giddens, 1997, “The Trajectory of Self”, Modernity and Self-Identity, pp=70-108 (Note, the last small section discusses anorexia, which you can skip if necessary but we will touch on in class.)
Appleyard, 1994, “Healthism is a Vile Habit: It is no Longer Enough Simply to be Well; We are Exhorted to Pursue an Impossible and Illiberal Cult of Perfection.”
Rhinehart, 2013, “How I Stopped Eating Food.”

Apr 05 Tue - Hacking health

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Health,” Hacking Life, ch=6
Evgeny Morozov, 2013, “The perils of perfection.”

Apr 08 Fri - Relationships

John Danaher, Sven Nyholm, Brian D. Earp, 2018, “The Quantified Relationship,” The American Journal of Bioethics, see zip file
Tynan, 2015, Superhuman Social Skills: A Guide to Being Likeable, Winning Friends, and Building Your Social Circle, pp=1-16, see zip file
jnucci, 2015, “Agile Parenting”

Apr 12 Tue - Hacking relationships

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Relationships,” Hacking Life, ch=7

Apr 15 Fri - Meaning

William Irvine, 2009, “Introduction” & “The Dichotomy of Control,” A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, ch=0,5, see zip file
Chiara Sulprizio, 2015, “Why is Stoicism Having a Cultural Moment?”

Apr 19 Tue - Hacking meaning

Reagle (2019), “Hacking Meaning,” Hacking Life, ch=8

Apr 22 Fri - Presentations

In five minutes, present your self-help analysis and thesis. See presentation tips and rubric.

If you wish to use visuals during your presentation, link to your slides in the Slides Doc and make your deck public to everyone, not just Northeastern, so I can display them if necessary

Apr 26 Tue - Conclusion

Holly Theisen-Jones, 2017, “My Fully Optimized Life Allows Me Ample Time to Optimize Yours”
Reagle (2019), “Conclusion,” Hacking Life, ch=9

Review the book analysis assignment and writing requirements. Turn in your book analysis. Remember the writing guide handout.

DUE: 2nd half of reading responses, including today. Please send me the link to your Google Doc, with sharing set to “viewable by anyone with link.”

Apr 29 Fri - TRACE

DUE: Evidence of TRACE completion due via email at 12:00 ET.