Digital society

We now live in a digital society. New digital technologies have had a profound influence on everyday life, social relations, government, commerce, the economy and the production and dissemination of knowledge. People's movements in space, their purchasing habits and their online communication with others are now monitored in detail by digital technologies. We are increasingly becoming digital data subjects, whether we like it or not, and whether we choose this or not. The course aims at enabling students to analyse in a critical way and explain the main changes that, in the last few decades, have affected Western advanced societies and other areas of the world. As a result of the course, the students will be equipped with the conceptual and empirical tools to understand the most salient features and the most relevant consequences of today's processes of "disintermediation" and "digitalization" in a number of significant social domains

By the end of the course students will acquire the ability to critically evaluate and discuss the impact, development and use of digital technologies and their incorporation into social worlds and institutions, such as new knowledge economy and big data, reconceptualising research in the digital era, the digitisation of higher education, the diversity of digital use, digital politics and citizen digital engagement, the politics of surveillance, privacy issues, the contribution of digital devices to embodiment and concepts of selfhood. The final exam aims to verify the expected learning outcomes in relation to: knowledge and understanding of the main concepts developed in the debate on the Digital Society, critical presentation of case studies and empirical results related to the topics discussed during the course.