Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A study of the social theory of information technologies, examining issues affecting computer-mediated communication.

COURSE DETAILS:

Overview:

In this course we explore how scholars have grappled with the relationship between communication, technology, and society. We will read a wide range of texts, both historical and contemporary, in order to understand how sociological, cultural, communication, and information perspectives theorize, research, and debate the social construction of communication technologies. The topics will cover a range of different technologies, from the mundane to the advanced, and especially consider the role of power, social inequality, agency, and difference. This course will also consider epistemological problematics that originate from sociological theory, such as the relationship of the individual to society, and various levels of analysis (micro, meso, and macro) that will guide, whether explicitly or implicitly, your own inquiries.


Technologies are indeed social and cultural, and it is important to understand the political contexts and historical moments in which everyday people, social groups, organizations, and institutions shape technologies for self-expression and instrumental goals. Of particular interest will be how new communication technologies are implicated in current society-wide and global transformations of work, leisure, and everyday life. The Internet, for example, is being used to communicate between friends and family, database the human genome, and organize the war on terror. While we create ‘our’ Facebook pages, companies are also ‘watching’ where we surf and what we buy to understand who we are as consumers and how to locate us as an audience. At times, we go willingly into a surveillance society. Often, however, we are unaware of the (global) networks and databases through which our personal information flows.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: