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Syllabus Propaganda Revisited: Political persuasion in social conflicts - 50059
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Last update 10-09-2017
HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: communication & journalism

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Christian Baden

Coordinator Email: c.baden@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Wednesdays 16-18

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Christian Baden

Course/Module description:
Conflictual public debates live from the competition of plural actors over ideas and arguments. In their efforts to rally support for their specific positions, each actor employs a wide range of persuasive strategies. However, some forms of political persuasion cross the line between legitimate democratic debate and propaganda: Exploiting their communication power, as well as certain cultural, sociological and cognitive biases, they try to overpower competing claims and establish a monopoly on defining the situation. In this class, we will systematically examine those strategies and conditions used by political propaganda in order to dominate the debate, undoing pluralistic competition. Drawing upon a wide range of examples, both historical and contemporary, we will define the challenges, strategies, and enabling conditions that shape the success and failure of propagandistic persuasion. Reviewing the theoretical and conceptual foundations of propaganda and persuasion research, we update existing wisdom to account for contemporary forms of propaganda, such as online incitement, fake news and disinformation. The class aims to develop an understanding not only of what situations in social conflict are particularly prone to propaganda, but also what strategies and policies are suitable to contain propaganda and defend the plural, democratic debate.

Course/Module aims:
To study the functioning of propaganda as a complex persuasion process, involving a confluence of political, cultural, sociological and psychological strategies aimed at subduing disagreement and independent opinion formation; to understand the mechanisms and conditions involved in the success and failure of propaganda, including their evolution toward contemporary, online media environments; to discuss specific aspects and mechanisms of propaganda in brief student presentations, using historical or contemporary examples, and evaluate their normative and theoretical implications.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Define and productively engage propaganda as a scientific concept that connects persuasion research across various disciplines to an ongoing normative debate
- Understand the mechanisms underlying propaganda communication, as well as the conditions and contextual factors endowing it with greater or lesser power
- Critically evaluate political communication contents for their more or less propagandistic structure, and recognize the imprint of propaganda in a public debate
- Apply the analytic perspectives discussed in the class to cases of propaganda and critically appraise their relevance and insights
- Provide a normative and democratic theoretic appraisal of propaganda and its uses in the present social, political and media environment
- Design small-scale research projects based on the class content

Attendance requirements(%):
85

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: lecture, presentations, class discussion

Course/Module Content:
23.10.17 Getting to terms: Propaganda as anti-pluralist political communication
30.10.17 Justified propaganda? Ordering the normative debate
06.11.17 Dominance, deference, doubt & disruption: Changing objectives of propaganda
13.11.17 Media control: Propaganda production outside and inside the media
20.11.17 Building the bubble: Propaganda’s appeal to audiences
27.11.17 One truth: Strategies for repelling contestation
04.12.17 Making differences: The discursive structure of propaganda
11.12.17 Love, rage and anxiety: The emotional embedding of propaganda
18.12.17 Evident explanations: The cognitive mechanisms of propaganda
25.12.17 Outcasts & communities: The sociological context of propaganda
01.01.18 Another age of propaganda? Remodeling propaganda in the new media
08.01.18 Fighting hydras and windmills: Present strategies at countering propaganda
15.01.18 Resistance is futile? Avenues for safeguarding pluralism

Required Reading:
Will be added later

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 25 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 50 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 25 %
Active Participation

Additional information:
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Diagnosis and Support of Students with Learning Disabilities, or the Office for Students with Disabilities, as early as possible, to discuss and coordinate accommodations, based on relevant documentation.
For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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