98295 - SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF ALGORITHMIC PREDICTION

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the increasingly spreading of data-driven automated decision-making in social systems, with special focus on insurance practice. At the end of the course the student will be able to: • assess social issues of fairness and discrimination in algorithmic forms of prediction • explain social assumptions and consequences of predictive analysis in insurance societies • analyze and interpret concrete cases of data-driven decisions in the field of social and private insurance.

Course contents

The course will focus on both theories and practices related to the political effects of social movements.

Students are required to read the assigned material before the class carefully, and active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected.

The course is divided in three parts. First, the course will focus on social movements and their features in the digital age. Second, the course will deepen students' understanding of social movements' outcomes at the level of policy, politics and polity. Third, the course will present some mechanisms and dilemmas that activists face when it comes to social movement outcomes.

The schedule of the course is the following:

PART 1 - SETTING THE CONTEXT: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Week 1
- Introduction to the course
- What do we talk about when we talk about social movements

Week 2
- Social movements and the mainstream press
- Social movements and alternative media

Week 3
- Social movements and digital media
- Social movements and the logic of connective action

Week 4
- Social movements and datafication: analytic activism and data-activism

PART 2 - UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MOVEMENT OUTCOMES AT THE LEVEL OF POLICY, POLITICS AND POLITY

Week 4
- Social movements outcomes at the level of policy

Week 5
- - Social movement outcomes at the level of policy and the relevance of framing
- Social movements and outcomes at the level of politics

Week 6
- The institutionalization and professionalization of social movement organizations
- Social movement outcomes at the level of polity

PART 3 - MECHANISMS AND DILEMMAS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS’ OUTCOMES

Week 7
- Social movement and political violence: the dilemma of the radical flank effect

Week 8
- Social movement outcomes and digital media
- In-depth analysis: the case of anti-corruption movements in Brazil

Week 9
- In-depth analysis: the blurring boundaries between activism and journalism

Week 10
- Transnational social movements and social movement outcomes
- In-depth analysis: the Hirak movement in Algeria

Week 11
- Social movements effects on other movements
- In-depth analysis: the biographical consequences of social movements

Please note that the topics covered during classes might be subject to slight variations.

Readings/Bibliography

Students are required to read and study:

• Donatella della Porta and Mario Diani (2020) Social Movements: An Introduction, Wiley-Blackwell
• David Meyer (2021) How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter, Polity Press

And one book selected amongst the following list of books:

• Donatella della Porta (2022) Contentious politics in emergency critical junctures: progressive social movements during the pandemic, Cambridge University Press
• Zeynep Tufekci (2017) Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Yale University Press
• Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg (2013) The Logic of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics. Cambridge University Press.

Teaching methods

The course combines lectures, in-depth analysis of specific case studies, and interactive sessions with the students.

Assessment methods

Students will be evaluated through three main tools:

• A final paper of 4,000-5,000 words about one of the topics covered during the course (50%)
• An oral exam that will cover the main topics discussed during the course and in the students' final papers (50%)

Teaching tools

Power Point presentations, multi-media materials, and practical exercises will support teaching and learning activities.

Office hours

See the website of Alice Mattoni