It isn't too inconceivable to believe his 20 lectures still aren't enough to disclose both the mundane and outlandish inner-workings of the mass media and the production of culture. There could have been plenty of more ammo left within his unique, machine gun- like oratory tendency. A well-informed professor with an impressive expertise of topics both germane and irrelevant, Rossman uses the lens of a simple magnifying glass to provide a breathtaking glimpse into the field in which he studies so deeply. And irrespective of the fascinatingly ostentatious display of his comprehensive knowledge, there really does exist some valuable substance within the course that goes well with his overall style. Stories, charts, historical anecdotes, and real-life examples all provide an effective illustration of the course concepts that can erroneously be deemed dense and/or merely theoretical.
More compellingly, he places significance on the process and mechanism that is responsible for highlighting the unrecognized difference between success and failure within popular culture. Rossman's Soc M176 leaves you with an invaluable understanding of popular culture that wonderfully distinguishes itself from any other course within the sociology department.
A worthwhile course for any undergraduate student.

Soc M176 with Rossman was an interesting and straightforward class. It was definitely one of the most engaging soc classes that I've taken so far, covering a lot of different topics. The workload isn't huge, just weekly memos, a midterm, and final. Rossman used to give out pop quizzes in lecture, but fortunately he switched to the weekly memo system which made things exponentially easier for students. Lecture and discussion are a must if you want to do well in the class, since the tests are just essay questions asking about what he was lecturing on (TAs help to clarify and reemphasize topics in discussion).

Selling textbook! Text me if you're interested! (818) 823- 3357

Selling textbook

text me **********

SELLING THE TEXT FOR M176
text me **********

(AKA COMM ST M147)
Professor Rossman is excellent. He truly knows his material, and then some. If you really want to know about the Entertainment Business or work in the Entertainment Business later, this class is a must. Try to memorize everything he says for your future job, because he's on the money. Even if you don't like your grade when you're done in here, you will be way ahead of the professional competition later, knowing this information.
Like the previous posts said, the exams were lecture-based and the quizzes were reading material-based. I happened to have a TA (David) who was NOT a nit-picky grader (refreshing), so scoring was fair.
Go to Rossman's office hours to discus any of the material or relevant current events. Hardly anyone took advantage if his office hours, so you can have him all to yourself.

Took Prof. Rossman this previous fall quarter and he was my favorite course for that term. If you do the readings, you will do well on the pop quizzes. If you attend lecture (or at least listen closely to the podcasts) and take good notes, you will do well on the midterm and final as well.

He was an amazing professor and attending his lectures were worth it because he made the content quite entertaining and easy to follow. I learned so much from taking his Mass Communications course and would recommend friends to take him in the Fall or Spring. I not only ended up getting an A in his class but also grew to love the functions of the creative industry and the art culture.

I took mass comm with Rossman my first quarter at ucla. It was a very interesting experience, both positive and negative.

Positives: The class subject is really interesting/entertaining. He posts the lectures online so you don't really have to attend class, but he likes to make sure that you are there EVERY day to listen to his boring lectures so he WILL take attendance of a 300-student course.

Negative: this class is very TA-dependent. If your TA sucks, you are so screwed--I am not even joking. A lot of students had the sucky TA, so we all went to complain about our grade to Rossman, and he would not budge when we asked to re-evaluate our grade. He would just say "whatever the TA says is right," yeah, whatever. The TAs do all the grading and its rather funny that you write whatever the TA says, yet you may find yourself noticing discrepancies between what was said in lecture and discussion. So when the essay comes around, what do you write? Not cool.

Thanks to this class i got my first B+ (not a good thing), since i got a B- on the midterm, but i miraculously pulled a 98% on the final;yet, it was still not enough to overcome the hurdle of the 80% thanks to my sucky TA. Overall, take this class at your own risk. I consider myself a hard worker who cares about the grade and I had problems with this class.

Rossman is dope. He is a huge dork but a really cool guy. He made me laugh out loud at least once a class period. His research is in this subject so he really knows it. Take the honors section if you can, the readings assigned for the honors section are a huge benefit in the class assignments. The first few weeks, i didn't understand how the class pertained to sociology at all, and towards the middle of the class, he starts bending it and he shows you the clearest ways to understanding institutionalization, fads, trends, and many other sociological pillars that when explained theoretically are seemingly gibberish to us undergrads. I would highly recommend taking Rossman. Easy B, you gotta work for an A

Prof Rossman is not bad but he talks way to fast. By 40 min in I felt like I was going to die from extreme bordom / gave up trying to even write down what he said. This class really depends on the T.A. I had a pretty horrible one so he was no help at all.