POL 384 - Democracy and Data

This course explores the entanglement of democracy with data. We begin by historicizing “big data,” exploring the relation between statistics and statecraft, including the census and opinion polling. We then turn to three contemporary challenges associated with (really) big data: First, surveillance by corporations and states for governance, marketing, and control. Second, algorithmic prediction and decision-making, particularly as they relate to the construction of identity and the maintenance of inequality. Finally, information disorder in the digital public sphere and its implications for democratic self-government. Throughout, we will consider how big data and computational technologies might lead us to rethink central concepts in political theory, including consent and freedom; property and (self-)ownership; identity and difference; security, privacy, and the commons. Literature will be drawn from a range of disciplines, including science and technology studies, critical information and media studies, and the history of political thought.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Not offered: 2023-24