Culture and Society: Theories and Methods. Society and communication theories, mass media representations and narrative stereotypes. Metaphors, symbols and persuasion. New media and post-truth. These contents aim to provide the students of Communication Studies with adequate Knowledge and methodological basis. The target is to make the students able to be sufficiently autonomous in a critical approach to the relevant scientific framework according to the theoretical perspectives.
Bibliography
Benedetta Baldi, 2021, Il linguaggio del potere. Comunicazione politica e società, Carocci, Roma
Learning Objectives
Knowledge objectives: The course aims to provide a basic formation concerning the relation between language and culture from an identity point of view and in the perspective of the mass media. In this regard, the course also investigates the strategies of persuasion through symbols and metaphors. Specifically, the course aims to provide the basic skills about the main categories of the intercultural communication (perception, stereotypes, prejudices, ethnocentrism) and about the semantico-cognitive implications associated to the mass media. Moreover, the course intends to stimulate the active participation in the university and the capacity of applying these knowledges in the ordinary life.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledges in the different fields of communication theories are an important support in order to enter into the contents of course.
Teaching Methods
Lectures and seminars (if the health emergency will allow it)
Further information
The attendance is obligatory in at least 2/3 of the course (in case of health emergency the frequency will be streamed).
Type of Assessment
Oral mode (possibly completed by a written paper - optional). The exam concerns all of the topics developed in the course. Specifically it touches: 1) the relation between language and thought; 2) the relation between language and politics; 3) mass media and public opinion; 4) the role of mass media in persuasion; 5) metaphors and symbols in politics. The aim is to verify the knowledge acquired by the students in the different field treated during the course and their ability of using these notions in a critical and autonomous manner. It is necessary that the student shows a sufficient knowledge of each topic among the ones discussed during the lessons. In this perspective, the expressive capacities and the ability in appropriately combining theoretical models and real phenomena are considered. The final evaluation is fixed depending on the addition of the singular exam issues.
Course program
The course investigates the many aspects of the relationship between society, mass media, public opinion and more generally the symbolic universe, the beliefs and values that underlie people's behavior, addressing the theories and models of communication, the question of the formation of media representations , narrative stereotypes, and the production of symbols and meanings in political discourse as an instrument of power. The new media, the question of 'post-truth', the metaphors and symbols put in place by public and, specifically, political communication are the subject of analysis and discussion. Specifically, the topics that are addressed, are the following:
Communication theories: society and mass communication models
Construction/ media representation of reality
The power of mass media: Politics and media
Political discourse and the media: metaphors and symbols as tools for representation and interpretation of reality
Prejudice and stereotype in political narrative: rhetoric and argumentation in political communication
Discourse and media mechanisms of persuasion
The role of social networks: Fake news and post-truth
General review