93496 - Politics and Ideology of Culture (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course reconstructs the political significance of certain ideological-cultural constellations that have established themselves globally in modern and contemporary times. They are investigated both as discursive effects and as a product of the tension between the material constitution of society and its political representation, highlighting their role in the reproduction of society. At the end of the course the student: mastered the methodologies of the history of political and social concepts and constitutional history knows in depth the political meaning of ideological-cultural constellations; knows how to analyze the political effects of ideological discourse; knows how to apply the acquired knowledge to the processes of reproduction of society; is able to analyze political action in relation to the ideologies and culture that legitimize it.

Course contents

This year's course will focus on the 'politics of the algorithm', i.e. the ways in which the algorithmic complex (which, in addition to the algorithm, also includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, protocol, platform, cloud and interface) is redefining the relevance and meaning of certain fundamental concepts of modern politics. The aim of the course is to investigate the ways in which the algorithmic complex imposes forms of power that are immanent to social relations and individual behaviour. This happens when social networks are used, when digital platforms are used, and at any other time when algorithmic rationality becomes the constitutive form of social and political relations. The omnipresence of algorithmic power imposes a radical rethinking of fundamental concepts of modern political discourse such as individual, society, citizen, democracy, justice, state, governance, domination.

The course will address the following topics:

1) The algorithm as a mathematical tool and as a political technology; 
2) Communication and information technologies and surveillance capitalism. 
3) Algorithmic rationality and the breakdown of the modern concept of the individual; 
4) How the algorithmic complex establishes a new dimension of power; 
5) Programmed hierarchies: design, bias, role, discrimination; 
6) The public sphere in the age of algorithmic communication and the constant connection of individuals; 
7) Outlines of an algorithmic governance of the social. Reality and myth of the black box society; 
8) Politics with social networks, the politics of social networks; 
9) Time, equality and freedom in the age of platforms; 
10) How the algorithmic complex transforms the state: crisis of political legitimation and the platform state. 

Readings/Bibliography

General Bibliography

1.

Luciano Floridi, La quarta rivoluzione. Come l’infosfera sta trasformando il mondo, Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2017.

Remo Bodei, Dominio e sottomissione. Schiavi, animali, macchine, Intelligenza Artificiale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019.

2.

Pedro Domingos, L’algoritmo definitivo. La macchina che impara da sola e il futuro del nostro mondo, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2016.

Ed Finn, Che cosa vogliono gli algoritmi? L'immaginazione nell'era dei computer, Torino, Einaudi, 2018.

3.

Shoshana Zuboff, Il capitalismo della sorveglianza. Il futuro dell’umanità nell’era dei nuovi poteri, Roma, Luiss, 2020.

Andrea Cardone, "Decisione algoritmica" vs decisione politica? A.I. Legge Democrazia, Napoli, Editoriale Scientifica, 2021.

4.

Teresa Numerico, Intelligenza artificiale e algoritmi: datificazione, politica, epistemologia, in «CONSECUTIO RERUM», vol. 3, n. 6, Aprile 2019, pp. 241-271. Disponibile all'indirizzo: http://www.consecutio.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8-numerico.pdf

Salvo Vaccaro, Gli algoritmi della politica, Eleuthera, 2020

Mauro Calise, Fortunato Musella, Il principe digitale, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2019.

5.

Michele Mezza, Algoritmi di libertà. La potenza del calcolo tra dominio e conflitto, Roma, Donzelli, 2018

Giovanni Ziccardi, Tecnologie per il potere. Come usare i social network in politica, Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2019.

6.

Cathy O'Neal, Armi di distruzione matematica. Come i big data aumentano la disuguaglianza e minacciano la democrazia, Milano, Bompiani, 2017.

Damiano Palano, Bubble Democracy. La fine del pubblico e la nuova polarizzazione, Brescia, Scholé, 2020.

7.

Nick Srnicek, Capitalismo digitale. Google, Facebook, Amazon e la nuova economia del web, Roma, Luiss, 2017.

Antonio A. Casilli, Schiavi del clic. Perché lavoriamo tutti per il nuovo capitalismo? Milano, Feltrinelli, 2020.

8.

Judy Wajcman, La tirannia del tempo. L'accelerazione della vita nel capitalismo digitale, Roma, Treccani, 2020

Maurizio Ricciardi, Il presente assoluto. Macchine, rivoluzioni e algoritmi, in Into the Black Box (ed) Capitalismo 4.0. Genealogia della rivoluzione digitale, Milano, Meltemi, 2021, pp. 93-110.

In-depth bibliography

N.B. The texts listed below are not part of the examination program. They are reading suggestions for those who wish to deepen their knowledge of the topics covered in the course. However, it is possible to agree with the lecturer on an examination program in which these texts replace those listed in the general bibliography.

Ippolita, Tecnologie del dominio. Lessico minimo di autodifesa digitale, Meltemi, Milano, 2017.

Taina Bucher, If ... Then. Algorithmic Power and Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018.

David Golumbia, The Cultural Logic of Computation, Cambridge (Mass.) - London, Harvard U.P., 2009.

Scott Timcke, The Algorithms and the End of Politics. How Technology shapes 21st-Century American Life, Bristol, Bristol University Press, 2021.

Thomas Christiano, Algorithms, Manipulation, and Democracy, in "Canadian Journal of Philosophy" (2021), pp. 1–16.

Benjamin H. Bratton, The Stack. On Software and Sovereignty, Cambridge (Mass.) – London, Harward University Press, 2015.

Nick Couldry - Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection. How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism, Stanford (CA), Stanford U.P., 2019.

Lincoln Dahlberg, Re-constructing digital democracy: An outline of four ‘positions’, in "New media & society", 13(6), 2011, pp. 855–872.

Robert Gowra, What is platform governance? «Information, Communication & Society», 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1573914

Matthew Hindman, The Internet Trap. How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy, Princeton, Princeton U.P., 2018.

Virginia Eubanks, Automating Inequality. How High-Tech Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor, New York, St. Martin Press, 2017.

Safiya U. Noble, Algorithms of Oppression. How search engines reinforce racism, New York, NYU Press, 2018

Taylor Owen, Disruptive Power. The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, 2015.

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Discriminating Data. Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition, Cambridge (Mass) and London, The Mit U.P., 2021.

Davide Panagia, On the Possibilities of a Political Theory of Algorithms, in "Political Theory", 2021, Vol. 49(1), pp. 109–
133.

Frank Pasquale, Two Narratives of Platform Capitalism, in "Yale Law and Policy Review", Vol. 35, No. 1 (2016), pp. 309-319.

Peter Polack, Beyond algorithmic reformism: Forward engineering the designs of algorithmic systems, in "Big Data & Society", 1, 2020, pp. 1-15.

Teaching methods

Lectures with discussion of the most relevant concepts.

Assessment methods

The examination is aimed at testing the knowledge acquired, with particular emphasis on the ability to focus on the connections between the concepts analysed. 

1) Attending students are required to write a paper of at least 2500 words using, in addition to the lecture notes, the texts indicated in one of the thematic points of the bibliography. 

2) Non-attending students must write a paper of at least 3000 words using one of the two texts listed in point 1 of the bibliography and the texts listed in one of the other thematic points.

All papers must be delivered at least one week before the institutional exam date.

If the student demonstrates:

• An organic vision of the topics studied together with their critical use, a good mastery of expression and specific language, the assessment will be excellent (30-30L).
  
• A mechanical knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesise and analyse articulated in correct but not always appropriate language, the grade will be fair (28-29). 
• A preparation on a limited number of topics and independent analysis skills only on purely executive matters, but expressed in correct language, the grade will be good (25-27)
• Some formative deficiencies and/or sometimes inappropriate language with a generic and not in-depth knowledge of the examination material, the assessment will be more than sufficient (21-24). 
• Formative deficiencies and/or inappropriate language - albeit in the context of minimal knowledge of examination material the assessment will be sufficient (18-20). 
• Formative deficiencies, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographical material offered during the course, the assessment will be negative.

Teaching tools

Lectures make use of visual aids (PowerPoint) that are uploaded and made available to students at virtule.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Maurizio Ricciardi