Communication is the central means for contesting and reconfiguring structural forms of power relations among social groups, and this class focuses on power dynamics and imbalances across social institutions such as law, education, medicine, economics, media, and religion. Students engage the concepts of hegemony (the production of consent for dominant power relationships) and counter-hegemony (the struggle against dominant social arrangements). As such, the course invites students to consider the interplay of communication, culture, and social institutions in maintaining, resisting, and transforming the persistent inequalities of power and disproportionate distribution of cultural and political capital. Fall.
Prerequisite:
COMM 210 Minimum Grade: C
and COMM 220 Minimum Grade: D
and (COMM 275 Minimum Grade: C
or COMM 285 Minimum Grade: C)
Equivalent:
INST 320 - OK if taken since Fall 2018