Mass Media and a "Virtuous" Society

I saw this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education today and thought it connected well with some of our readings on the effects of mass media and the value of encouraging media use.

The article is titled Creative Class, Dismissed and written by Laurie Fendrich, a professor of fine arts at Hofstra University

In her class, she has undergraduate students read Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert on the Theatre (1758) and discuss modern media saturation - Is entertainment good? What effect does it have on society? What effect does it have on our personal satisfaction with life? What effect does it have on our relationships? Is his view of gender relationships pure chauvinism, or does he have a point about the ways women are taught to present themselves in society?

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