20710535 - HISTORY OF PUBLIC OPINION AND MASS CULTURE

The teaching intends to provide students a basic knowledge of the field of public opinion and mass culture, taking into account the change of contemporary society.
The main aim of the teaching is that students acquire knowledge and understand the role of public opinion and mass culture in the history of the twentieth century.
At the end of the course, students will have acquired knowledge of the main themes of the historiographic debate on the history of public opinion and mass culture.
teacher profile | teaching materials

Programme

The course will focus on the development of mass society in the United States of America and Italy during the 20th century, paying particular attention to consumption-cultural and otherwise-and the role of mass media in fostering the creation of public opinion and mass culture in the two countries.
After indicating what is meant by public opinion, the course will insist on the links between consumption, media and political consensus in twentieth-century mass societies.

Core Documentation

- J. Habermas, Storia e critica dell'opinione pubblica, Bari-Rome, Laterza, 2020

- V. De Grazia, Irresistible Empire, America’s Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe, Cambridge (MA), Harvard UP, 2006

- D. Colon, La guerra dell’informazione. Gli stati alla conquista delle nostre menti, Torino, Einaudi, 2024

- A. Sangiovanni, Specchi infiniti. Storia dei media in Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi, Rome, Donzelli, 2021.

Attendance

Course attendance is optional, but strongly recommended.

Type of evaluation

The examination will be in oral form and will cover the content of the course and the texts adopted in the syllabus.