Politics and Technology Since 1960

Catalog description

This course examines the politics of technology since 1960 with a focus on the United States. Each week we will watch a significant feature film from the period that addresses an issue in the politics of technology. Readings from Science & Technology Studies (STS) will set the films in historical context and raise theoretical and normative questions. The films will include narrative features, such as dramas and satires, as well as documentaries. Topics of films and readings will include nuclear war, human enhancement, biosecurity, financial engineering, surveillance and privacy, toxic chemical exposures, artificial intelligence, genomic medicine, and political campaign technology. These issues will be explored individually and through comparative analysis. Written work and discussion will link films and readings to broader questions about how political issues involving technology have been represented on film and in public discourse; and about democratic decision making in a high-tech society.