Syllabus: Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS 121.19)( (
(This is an abbreviated version of the syllabus for this course)
This course is an in-depth study of the way persuasion and propaganda influence opinions on social policy. Specifically, in this course we will examine two social issues often contested in American public discourse--criminal justice and intellectual property--and explore a variety of written, visual, and other messages that help shape public opinion on these issues.
In the process, we will gain an in-depth understanding of various mechanisms of influencing opinion, and will study specific rhetorical concepts that will help us understand how to effectively and ethically make use of persuasion ourselves, and, help us better understand the various and often unnoticed ways persuasion is used on us.
This course takes as a fundamental assumption that our language use is crucial to our understanding of an issue, and so, that the way we come to frame issues in language influences the way we think about these issues, and thus our opinions about them.
In the process, we will gain an in-depth understanding of various mechanisms of influencing opinion, and will study specific rhetorical concepts that will help us understand how to effectively and ethically make use of persuasion ourselves, and, help us better understand the various and often unnoticed ways persuasion is used on us.
This course takes as a fundamental assumption that our language use is crucial to our understanding of an issue, and so, that the way we come to frame issues in language influences the way we think about these issues, and thus our opinions about them.
As this outlook holds that language is a fundamental shaping force on what we know about the world, much of what we will study in this course will overlap with a course on rhetoric in general (as well, though, readings for this course will draw on a diversity of fields including communication studies, political science, criminal justice, social policy studies, sociology, and psychology).
You will not be expected to have any prior knowledge of the material or of the technical concepts we will encounter in the course. It will be expected, however, that you will be open to the premise (central to the course) that our opinions of issues we encounter are neither innate and “given” nor are “finished” and unassailable, but rather are fundamentally malleable, shaped both by internal and external forces operating at the level of our language use. With this in mind, it will also be expected that you respect the opinions of others; in this course we are not concerned with proving how someone’s opinion may be “wrong” or “misguided.” Instead, we are concerned with understanding how all opinions come to be shaped in the first place.
You will not be expected to have any prior knowledge of the material or of the technical concepts we will encounter in the course. It will be expected, however, that you will be open to the premise (central to the course) that our opinions of issues we encounter are neither innate and “given” nor are “finished” and unassailable, but rather are fundamentally malleable, shaped both by internal and external forces operating at the level of our language use. With this in mind, it will also be expected that you respect the opinions of others; in this course we are not concerned with proving how someone’s opinion may be “wrong” or “misguided.” Instead, we are concerned with understanding how all opinions come to be shaped in the first place.
Course Goals
In this course we will study rhetoric, persuasion, and propaganda, all in relation to the two central social issues we will be reading about. In so doing we will call into question traditional assumptions about language, agency, ethics, culture, ideology, and perception. While I don’t expect you to fully understand the implications of these terms at the beginning of the course, by the end you should be able to articulate successfully what the terms mean, what are the common assumptions about them, and, what are the potential problems with those assumptions.
Required Texts
In this course we will study rhetoric, persuasion, and propaganda, all in relation to the two central social issues we will be reading about. In so doing we will call into question traditional assumptions about language, agency, ethics, culture, ideology, and perception. While I don’t expect you to fully understand the implications of these terms at the beginning of the course, by the end you should be able to articulate successfully what the terms mean, what are the common assumptions about them, and, what are the potential problems with those assumptions.
Required Texts
- Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson, Age Of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion (Holt) ISBN#: 9780805074031
- Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (Penguin) ISBN#: 9780143034650
- Christian Parenti, Lockdown America New Edition (Norton) ISBN#: 9781844672493
- Other short texts, either distributed in class or available on course reserve / ReggieNet