Issue (WIWE) status: Submitted, Unpublished

Weak Signal's progress: Fully-fledged

This Weak Signal came from: 
Artists/celebrities

The source of this Weak Signal: 
Lady Gaga course at the University of South Carolina - http://www.gagacourse.net/

When did the Weak Signal manifest ? 
2005-now

Weak Signal's description: 

As reported by BBC, a new course on "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame" is to be taught at the University of South Carolina. Course documents said students would learn to "engage in sound and substantiated scholarly thinking" on issues related to her fame. The course, which has its own blog, is due to start in spring 2011. The Belgian born sociologist, whose research interests also include counter-terrorism, international policing, crime control and internet technology, says he has seen Lady Gaga in concert 30 times."

In the course, Lady Gaga is studied as a social event. So the course is not focused on the person or the music but "thing out there in society that has 10 million followers on Facebook and six million on Twitter". In other words, the "social phenomenon". The course also focuses on business and marketing strategies, the role of old and new media, fans and live concerts, gay culture, religious and political themes, sex and sexuality, and the cities of New York and Hollywood.