Universität Wien

210128 SE M5: EU and Europeanisation: The Politics and Ideology of Digital Capitalism - Europe and beyond (2024S)

The Politics and Ideology of Digital Capitalism - Europe and beyond (engl.)

9.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work

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Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 14.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 21.03. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 11.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 18.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 25.04. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 02.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 16.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 23.05. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 06.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 13.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 20.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1
  • Thursday 27.06. 13:15 - 14:45 Hörsaal 1 Hauptgebäude Tiefparterre Stiege 1 Hof 1

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

From meeting people to building things, from ordering food to consuming news, digital technologies have become ubiquitous in our social and economic lives. This process of digitalization, whereby more and more of what we think, say, and do becomes mediated by digital technologies, which confronts societies with a number of challenges ranging from questions of competition policy to content moderation to rethinking welfare states. Technology, however, is not social destiny. In fact, societies can - and do - respond to the rise of digital capitalism very differently. In this context, the EU in particular has emerged as a global leader in digital policymaking, being sometimes dubbed a 'regulatory superpower' in the digital space. This raises three questions. First, who can we understand the drivers and dynamics of digital capitalism? Second, how can we understand the varying politics of digital capitalism? And third, how can we understand EU digital policymaking in particular? In this course, we will look at these three questions successively, taking into account interests, institutions, and ideas. We will first discuss various attempts to make sense of digital capitalism and its material and ideational underpinnings. We will then try to shed light on the political dynamics surrounding digital capitalism, looking at the specific challenges digital platforms pose and the variegated nature and success of political responses. Lastly, we will zoom in on the European Union's digital agenda and its attempts to achieve 'digital sovereignty', trying to ascertain the promises and pitfalls of the European digital model.

The course aims to familiarize students with the social scientific literature on the digital transformation, the politics of digital policymaking, and the nature of EU digital policymaking in particular. At the end of the course, students should be able to

- identify and describe key processes through which digitalization shapes capitalist societies and capitalist societies shape digitalization;

- summarize and critically assess central theoretical and empirical insights of the political science research on the politics of digital policymaking;

- apply these insights to better understand the past, present and future of digital policymaking in Europe.

Assessment and permitted materials

Students are required to attend classes and come prepared. Having done the assigned readings is essential for successful participation. In addition, there will be four assignments that together make up the final grade.

- First, students are required to deliver a very short input presentation (around 5 minutes) for **one** session and be prepared to kick off the discussion (e.g., through a question or provocative argument). This will also make up *15%* of their grade. The input presentation is not meant to be a comprehensive summary of the texts. Rather, it is meant to identify and critically discuss one or two interesting themes that connect the readings (e.g. discussing a recent development in light of the two readings, using one reading to criticize the other, etc). The presentations can be really short, they don't need to be (and shouldn't be) longer than 5 minutes per person. The goal is to not have more than 2 presentation per session.

- Second, there will be a short exam towards the end of the seminar which will cover the readings and slides. The test ensures that students actually do the readings and pay attention in class. It will consist of around 15 short questions, most of them in multiple choice format. The test will take place in the first 10-15 minutes of the last sessions. This, too, will make up *15%* of your grade.

- Third, for **four** sessions of their choosing, students need to write short response papers (half a page to one page at most) that reflect on the readings. This will make up *20%* of their grade. The response papers are also not meant to summarize the readings. Rather, students should pick up on one or two key arguments and critically reflect on them. Again, this can be done by discussing the readings in light of each other, or by connecting them to other readings or recent events in the news, or by criticizing their assumptions or conclusions, etc.

- Lastly, students need to write an empirically oriented term paper where they take a closer look at a recent EU digital policy (proposal) (~4000 words). While the papers should build on the literature on (the politics of) digital capitalism, they should be empirical in nature. In other words, they should take the form of a case study that has a clear research design and research question and employs some qualitative or quantitative method to answer it. This will make up *50%* of their grade. The deadline for the term paper will be **Sunday, August 18 2024**.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

You need to submit all the required assignments to pass the course. However, in exceptional circumstances, alternative assignments may be permitted as a substitute. Your final grade will be a weighted average of the above-described assignments. The grading scale used ranges from 0-100 points (used for all assignments). A passing grade requires you to obtain an weighted average of 61 points or higher. The grading scale translated into the university grading scale as follows:

- **91-100** = 1 (*very good*)
- **81-100** = 2 (*good*)
- **71-100** = 3 (*satisfactory*)
- **61-100** = 4 (*sufficient*)
- **< 61** = 5 (*not sufficient*)

Examination topics

see above

Reading list

see syllabus

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 31.07.2024 12:06