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Fall 2003
The
Present and Future of Democracy and Civic Engagement in the Age of Mass
Communications
Instructor:
Dr. Cristian Vaccari
Course
Program
Lecture 1 – October 6. Kickoff: course introduction, students’ presentations, introduction to political participation and civic engagement
R. Putnam, Bowling
Alone: the collapse and revival of American community.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000, chapters 2 and 3.
Lecture 3 – October 13. Causes and explanations
of the crisis of civic engagement in the United States – part I
R. Putnam, Bowling
Alone, chapters 13 and 15.
Lecture 4 – October 16. Causes and explanations
of the crisis of civic engagement in the United States – part II
L. Bennett, “The Uncivic Culture: Communication, Identity and the Rise of Lifestyle Politics”. P.S. Political Science and Politics, 31, 4, 1998
Discussion.
Midterm Discussion Paper due October 27.
Lecture 5 – October 20. Mass communications and political communication in Italy
M. Mignone, Italy Today: At the Crossroads of the New Millennium. Neew York: Peter Lang, 2000, chapter 15, “Coomunications Revolution and Cultural Consumption”.
T.
Jones, “My Italian TV Hell”, Financial
Times, January 16, 2003.
Lecture 6 – October 23. Mass media, political participation and civic engagement: optimistic views
P. Norris, A Virtuous Cycle: Political communications in postindustrial societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, chapters 1, 2, 14.
D. Swanson, “The Homologous Evolution of Political Communication and Civic Engagement: Good News, Bad News, and No News”. Political Communication, 17, 4, 2000.
Lecture 7 – October 27. Mass media, political participation and civic engagement: pessimistic and normative views
J. Blumler and M. Gurevitch, The Crisis of Public Communication. London, New York: Routledge,
1995, chapters 8 and 15.
M. Schudson, The
Power of News. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995,
chapter 10.
Lecture 8 – October 30. New standards for evaluating media performance
J. Zaller, “A New Standard of News
Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitoral Citizen”. Political
Communication, 2, 2003, 109-130.
L. Bennett, “The Burglar Alarm
That Keeps Ringing: A Response to Zaller”. Political
Communication, 2, 2003, 131-139.
T.E. Patterson, “The Search for a
Standard: Markets and Media”. Political
Communication, 2, 2003, 140-145.
Discussion.
Lecture 9 – November 3. Mass media, civic engagement and democracy
R. Putnam, Bowling
Alone, chapter 21.
B. Manin, The
Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997, chapter 6.
Lecture 10 – November 11. Final class: extra
topics, reflections, and conclusions.
Final Discussion Paper due November 11
See materials from the Spring 2002 class
Copyright 2003 Cristian Vaccari
c.vaccari@libero.it
Ultimo Aggiornamento: 29 Ottobre 2003
