B1686 - Digital Policies (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide an overview of the major challenges posed by digital technologies today in terms of public governance, data accumulation and labour transformations. Through the analysis of key contemporary critical theories, students will learn to handle concepts and issues in relation to digital infrastructures, surveillance capitalism and platform labour.

Course contents

The course is divided into 10 lessons, each of which will focus on a specific topic to be explored in depth.

The first part of the course will be devoted to a historical-political overview of digital technologies.

In particular, it will focus on the emergence and success of platforms as a business model and on the challenges posed by recent developments in artificial intelligence.

In the second part, we will focus on the spatial features of the digital conceived in its infrastructural, geopolitical and metropolitan dimensions.

In the third part, instead, we will examine how digital technologies - through the work of platforms and the accumulation of data - contribute to the definition of new subjects.

Finally, some proposals for the political governance of the digital will be presented and analysed, from cooperativism to socialism 4.0.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities: it is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

• Srnicek, Capitalismo digitale, 2017, Luiss University Press
• Frapporti, Governo materiale. Il potere politico delle infrastrutture, Meltemi 2024.
• Lehdonvirta, Cloud Empires. Come le piattaforme digitali stanno superando gli Stati e come possiamo riprendere il controllo, Einaudi, 2023.
• Cuppini, Metropoli planetaria 4.0, 2023, Meltemi
• Pisani, Piattaforme digitali e autodeterminazione. Relazioni sociali, lavoro e diritti al tempo della governamentalità algoritmica, Mucchi Editore, 2023.
• Crary, Terra bruciata. Oltre l’era digitale verso un mondo postcapitalista. Meltemi, 2023.
• Bonini, Treré, Algoritmi per resistere. La lotta quotidiana contro il capitalismo delle piattaforme. Mondadori, 2025.
• Zuboff, Il capitalismo della sorveglianza, 2023, Luiss University Press
• Aresu, Le potenze del capitalismo politico. Stati Uniti e Cina, La Nave di Teseo, 2020.

Teaching methods

Each lesson will examine a reference text and two (or more) in-depth articles.

The instructor will introduce the reference text and, starting from the latter, reconsider the main points of the subject matter of the lesson.

At the end of the presentation, the class will be divided into discussion groups, each of which will be assigned an article. The group will have to read and comment on the text and then report back to the class.

In addition, two workshops with invited guests will be organised.

Assessment methods

The exam can be conducted in written or oral form.

Students who have attended at least 75 percent of the classes may undertake the final exam in written form by submitting a paper no later than 7 days before the examination. The paper is then to be discussed in person on the day of the exam. The paper, based on the course' bibliography, should be about 4,000 words in length and should develop in an independent and original way - upon agreement with the instructor - one of the topics discussed during the course.

Students who will not have attended the course or who do not wish to undertake the exam in written form may opt for an oral exam based on 2 of the course's reference texts and 2 of the proposed in-depth articles. The choice of texts should be agreed in advance with the instructor.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities: it is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Maurilio Pirone