AP/HREQ 4740 6.00
Ideology and Freedom of Expression
This course uses a critical human rights approach to examine ideology and freedom of expression. The courses explores the role of the state and corporate interests in the creation of dominant ideologies in social media, communication systems, and news outlets.
We will begin by explaining the understanding of free expression as a legally and socially defined right of individuals and groups to engage in public speech and to express diverse views and perspectives. As a result, free expression has historically as well contemporaneously understood as a crucial factor in the promotion and extension of liberal democratic citizenship. Individuals have the right to politically disagree and to promote their own viewpoints. This understanding assumes a pluralism that lives with diversity. However, we are going to ask if that is a sufficient definition of free speech. Is free expression truly ‘free?’ This will bring us to an examination of ideology as a tool of active distortion. Ideology, both in Marxist and liberal perspectives, creates a distorted understanding of reality. Therefore, can we argue that ideology dominates free expression? In examining social media, for example, one finds that it is characterized as a vehicle of free expression and wide democratic participation. At the same time, it is a place where extreme ideologies and hatred can be disseminated to a wide audience. As a result, ideologies, political messaging, and false narratives distort the communicative realm of the media. We end by thinking about what an undistorted free expression could look like.
Course credit exclusion: Prior to Fall 2019: AP/HREQ 4740 Ideology and the State.
Prerequisites: 78 credits or permission from the Course Director.