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UNIT THREE Citizens and Culture Unit Overview “Citizens and Culture” addresses the “body politic”—the collective presence and interests of human beings in political systems—and the “vox populi”—Latin for the “voice of the people,” and a synonym for public opinion and political expression. That is, what does public participation in Politics mean, what forms does it take, and what are the major issues defining and directing this participation? In week 5 we consider the body politic, and in week 6 the vox populi. The body politic: In week 5, with the theme “technology, culture, and politics,” we first examine the technological environment in which politics at any level now occurs. The unit notes first define technology, then discuss the power dimension thought inherent to technologies—“technological politics”—as described in the work of U.S. political scientist, Langdon Winner. We read a chapter from Howard Rheingold, one of the leading commentators on politics and technology, and his more optimistic assessment of technology’s role in politics, “Technologies of Cooperation” from his book, Smart Mobs. The second half of week 5 features a new critique of counterculture—one inspired by the popularity of Naomi Klein and Kalle Lasn’s work in favour of culture-jamming—by a Canadian academic and journalist respectively in their chapter “The Birth of Counterculture.” Paralleling the consideration of technology this week, the issue in question here is: what place does popular culture have as a vehicle for expressing political ideas and enabling social change? We close this section with a reflection on the Situationists, the great theorists and practitioners of culture jamming from the 1950s. The vox populi: In week 6, we turn to the study of particular means of political communication in contemporary society. We single out two primary means by which political objectives are achieved and ideas communicated in the public sphere: public relations and, using Rutherford’s phrase, that particular form of PR known as “civic advocacy propaganda,” i.e., corporate goodwill campaigns, public service announcements, social marketing. Using a chapter from Stuart Ewen’s magisterial history of public relations, PR: The History of Spin as our core, we begin this section by discussing “mass society” and the critical and historical context for public relations. The chapter addresses Walter Lippmann and Edward Bernays, the two major intellectual founders of PR. Building on this topic, we then read Paul Rutherford’s chapter, “Advertising as Propaganda,” from his book Endless Propaganda. The nature of propaganda itself is also considered. Then, by way of a case study, we examine McDonalds, its civic advocacy work, and postmodernity. Readings and Resources Unit 3: Citizens and Culture technology, culture, and politics Week 5: January 31-February 6 (i) Howard Rheingold. Chapter 5, “Technologies of Cooperation.” Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2002. ISBN: 0-7382-0861-2. 33 pages. (ii) Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. Chapter 1, “The Birth of Counterculture.” The Rebel Sell: Why Culture Can’t Be Jammed. New York: Harper Collins, 2004. ISBN: 0-00-200790- 8. 23 pages. public communication: PR and social marketing Week 6: February 7-13 (i) Stuart Ewen. Chapter 8, “Unseen Engineers: Biography of an Idea.” PR: The History of