Social Media and Politics (HNRS 3ST-03)

Wednesday, 6-9:30 PM | HUM 107

Instructor Information

Dr. Aaron Heresco

Email: aheresco@callutheran.edu
Phone: 814-889-5161
Office: 106 Benson House
Office Hours: M/W 4-6 PM

Dr. José Marichal

Email: marichal@callutheran.edu
Phone: 805-493-3328
Office: SWEN 228
Office Hours: Monday 12:50-3 PM, Friday 12:50-2:40 PM

Course Description

This course explores the relationship between new media platforms and shifts in the principles and practices of citizenship. Combining theories from communication and political science and other disciplines, we will be considering how social media, algorithms, and web-based interactivity portend significant changes in the US polity and the articulation of citizenship.

Course Outcomes

Students who successfully complete HNRS 497 should:

  • Gain field-specific knowledge and information literacy, specifically related to the distribution of political and cultural ideologies and the ways that media influences political participation.
  • Practice communication skills (written and oral) by writing about, and discussing, the relationship of new and emerging communication technologies to practices and processes of citizenship.
  • Hone creative and critical thinking skills in the process of dissecting political movements and shifts.
  • Develop interpersonal and teamwork skills through class discussion and engagement with others with whom the student may disagree.

Course Structure & Grading

Course Structure: Each week you will be responsible for reading the assigned material and coming to class prepared to discuss it in some detail. Civil discussion is a requirement of the course. Failure to discuss topics civilly will result in loss of participation points.

Grading Breakdown (100 Points Total)

  • Reading Analysis Essays: 75 Points
  • Participation: 15 Points
  • Reading Checks: 10 Points

Assignments

Reading Analysis Essays: At 3 points throughout the semester (Week 5, 10, and 15), students will write an essay synthesizing the materials covered up to that point, using historical or contemporary data as supporting evidence.

Reading Checks: Short assessments ensuring students are reading and comprehending course material.

Participation: Students are allotted 1 “free” absence. Additional absences result in losing a letter off your final grade.

Schedule

Week 1 – Introduction to course and overview of social media and the self
Week 2 – How Knowledgable Are You: Politics and the Pictures in Our Heads
  • Lippmann, The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads (Ch. 1 on Blackboard)
  • Dewey: The Public and Its Problems (Introduction/Excerpt on Blackboard)
  • Lippmann/Dewey Debate
  • Frankfurt - On Bullshit
Week 3 – How Mediated Are You: Media, Markets, and Audiences
Week 4 – How Predictable are you? Big Data, Cambridge Analytica and the Machine Learning Bogeyman
Week 5 – How Replaceable are you? Bot Politics, NLP and the Rise of AI

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Handed out)

Week 6 – How Marketable are you? Platform Capitalism and the Algorithmic Problem

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Due)

Week 7 – How Political Are You: Clicktivism and Politicized Consumption
  • Project Red, product boycotts, citizens vs consumers
Week 8 – How Individualized Are You: Wisdom, Labor, and Capital of Crowds
Week 9 – How Radicalized Are You: Radicalization and Weaponized Irony
Week 10 – How You are You: Big Data, the Internet of Things, and portfolio selves

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Handed out)

Week 11 – How Controllable are You? The Uses of Platform Capitalism for State Control

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Due)

Week 12: How Controllable are you? You as part of a Geo-Political Arena
Week 13: How “Seen” can you be? The challenges of algorithmic bias
Week 14: How Free can you be? The Challenges of Becoming an Algorithmic Problem
  • Warner - Algorithms and Human Freedom
  • Olma - In Defense of Serendipity
  • Morozov - The Death of the Cyberflaneur
Week 15: How Free can we be? Do Social Media Algorithms Tip the Scales toward Authoritarianism

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Handed out)

Week 16: Wrap up: Surrender to our Algorithmic Overlords or “Fight the Power”

(Reading Analysis Essay Questions Due)