93544 - Political theories of Public Opinion (Lm)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to reconstruct the history of public opinion in a broad sense, as the subject from which political legitimacy emanates and at the same time as the object of government practices. The perspective used is that of the history of political thought, the aim is to provide students with a genealogy of public opinion necessary to understand its current forms. At the end of the course the student: - masters the political issues of public opinion; - knows the historical evolution of these issues; - is able to analyze the elements that contribute to the formation and representation of the public opinion; - know how to apply the acquired knowledge to the contemporary context; - is able to critically reconstruct the historical development of a political phenomenon in its implications with the fields of information and culture in general.

Course contents

The lessons will reconstruct the emergence of a "space of consensus" within the long history of Modern Politics, starting from the emergence of the Modern State and Liberalism in XVI and XVII century, through the late XVIII century revolutions and XIX century social theories, up to the advent of mass politics in XIX-XX century and the latest theories of communicative action.

The evolution of the concept of public opinion, understood in a broad sense, will be the leitmotif of the course, as well as the tool that will allow a continuous questioning about the present, on the characteristics of a political theory of public opinion suitable for our time.

Readings/Bibliography

The assesment takes place through an oral exam both for those who attend and for those who do not attend lessons, in the following ways:

 

ATTENDING STUDENTS

(attending students are those who have attended at least 80% of the lessons, i.e. 12/15)

The course includes, during the semester of attendance, the reading of extracts from classical texts before each lesson, made available by the teacher in virtuale.unibo.it. These texts form the basis of each lesson and are an integral part of the final oral exam.

In addition to these readings, to be carried out regularly throughout the course, attending students must choose ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TEXTS:

- Jürgen Habermas, Storia e critica dell’opinione pubblica, Laterza, 2005.

- Stefano Cristante, Potere e comunicazione. Sociologie dell'opinione pubblica, Liguori, 2004, pp. 1-182 (chapters 1-3).

 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Those who do not attend the course are required to read BOTH THE TEXTS from the previous list + Asa Briggs, Peter Burke, Storia sociale dei media. Da Gutenberg a Internet, Il Mulino, 2010. The book by Briggs and Burke will serve as a general introduction (it must be read in its entirety anyway), while the exam questions will mainly focus on the books by Habermas and Cristante. Questions will be aimed at testing the student's ability in exposing with an appropriate language the main thesis of the books.

Teaching methods

Lectures of 120 minutes each, usually divided into 90 minutes of lecture + 30 minutes of discussion and questions.

Assessment methods

For both attending and non-attending students the assesment takes place through an oral exam.

The exam can be done in Italian or English.

Teaching tools

The readings for each lesson will be provided by the teacher on the IOL platform, as will the power points used during the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Michele Filippini