ETICA E POLITICA NELL'ERA DIGITALE

Academic Year 2026/2027 - Teacher: LUIGI CARANTI

Expected Learning Outcomes

Students will learn to use social media with a higher degree of awareness, to see the connection between freedom and privacy and between privacy and democracy. They will learn the techniques adopted by economic and political entrepreneurs for their campaigns, and they will have the chance to reflect on the difficult balance between freedom of expression (on social media and elsewhere) and other rights.

Course Structure

The course is based on lectures and presentations by the students on a topic agreed upon with the instructor among those listed in the program

Required Prerequisites

Reading knowlegde of English. Basic knowledge of political theory. For a list of preparatory material see https://studentiunict-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/scrsml03m18c351v_studium_unict_it/IgCnKt4u_cX8SZXgo7BX7FMsAQL36aknu1Zy44XAWzVkoks?e=0Hq3Vi&xsdata=MDV8MDJ8bHVpZ2kuY2FyYW50aUB1bmljdC5pdHw3M2ZmYjgyNDM4YzQ0YzdjZmRkODA4ZGVkNzNkZDE4ZHxiYWVlZmJjODNjOGI0MzgyOTEyNmU4NmJmZWY0NmNlNnwwfDB8NjM5MTg0ODU3Njg1NTYxNzc1fFVua25vd258VFdGcGJHWnNiM2Q4ZXlKRmJYQjBlVTFoY0draU9uUnlkV1VzSWxZaU9pSXdMakF1TURBd01DSXNJbEFpT2lKWGFXNHpNaUlzSWtGT0lqb2lUV0ZwYkNJc0lsZFVJam95ZlE9PXwwfHx8&sdata=ZEs2Yjg5SXNzaVhaMlMyQ0VqT25oRTlhOFhGMEdIQm5Zb0haclBqcWxTND0%3d

Attendance of Lessons

Not mandatory but highly recommended. To be included in the Teams group, please send an email with the name of the course.

Detailed Course Content

The course analyzes how internet is redefining contemporary democracy focusing in particular on the recent phenomena of public opinion conditioning, on the decline of intermediate bodies with the related marginalization of experts, on the info-wars waged by organized groups and at times autocratic foreign governments, on freedom of expression in the social media and on who should set its limits (if any).

Textbook Information

Lehdonvirta, V. Cloud Empires. Come le piattaforme digitali stanno superando gli Stati e come possiamo riprendere il controllo. Einaudi 2023

Floridi, Luciano. Etica dell’intelligenza artificiale. Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2022.

Cass Sunstein, #Republic.com. La democrazia nell'epoca dei social media, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2017. Jamie Bartlett, The People Vs Tech. How the Internet is killing democracy (and how we save it). London: Penguin 2018.

Zuboff, Shoshana. Il capitalismo della sorveglianza, LUISS U. Press 2023

Serena Giusti and Elisa Piras (eds.) Democracy and Fake News Information Manipulation and Post-Truth Politics, Routledge, 2020.

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

Assessment will take place by looking at four aspects of students’ performance: 1) Participation in class, 2) Presentation, 3) Finalpaper, 4) Final exam Grade Weights: Participation in class: 33.3% Presentation: 33.3% Final exam: 33.3% For those who cannotattend class, hence participare and present, mark will depend entirely on the oral exam.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

1. What is usually meant by 'polarization'?

2. What are the cybercascades?

3. What does Sunstein mean by denying the identification between civic and political freedom in a liberal democracy and consumers' freedom?

4. What is a state-sponsored hacking?

Degree Course in

Sociology of networks, information and innovation