Lady Gaga studied: Sociology professor says course will be "challenging"

Note to any critics who wonder whether the singer known for wild and artful attire, including metal dresses, is fit for academia: Professor Mathiew Deflem is warning freshmen to stay away because the scholarly approach will be "too challenging" for them.

"The central objective of this course will be to unravel some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga," the professor explains in the course description on his university website. The 300-level class will focus on business and marketing, media, sex, religious and political themes and other elements involved in the construction of fame.

Deflem told the campus newspaper that he became fascinated with the performer when he saw her on "The Tonight Show."

"Other people say that Gaga's the new Madonna," Deflem said, according to a report in The Daily Gamecock. "But I don't see it that way at all. I see it more like there's people who have this very individual thing. Frank Zappa had it. Prince had it. Miles Davis had it. Jimi Hendrix had it," he said.

"And Lady Gaga has it."

Deflem has seen her perform 28 more times all around the world since the Atlanta show in 2009 and has met her five times, the Gamecock reported, adding that he owns hundreds of copies of her albums.

After students take his course, Deflem says, they should be able to think like a sociologist about popular culture, music and fame, and they should have "empirical knowledge of some of the most important social dimensions of fame as exemplified by the case of Lady Gaga."

In a nod, perhaps, to the potential popularity of the program, Deflem is issuing a warning to readers of his blog:

The class "is only available to students at the University of South Carolina," he wrote.