Social media's global challenge

Aims

This course aims to: 

• identify the contemporary problems wrought by the advent of social media
   
• assess social media’s significance, politically and culturally, against that of previous changes in communications technology throughout human history and pre-history
   
• suggest ways in which we might act to off-set the negative impacts of social media

Content

We all know social media is changing society. But what, precisely, is it changing? Why, ultimately, does it matter? And how, exactly, can we mitigate its worst effects? This course explores these questions and does so by setting the rise of social media in its proper and broadest historical, cultural and political context.  

The course begins with an exploration of the link between political polarisation and the business model of social media. It then examines the impact this new technology is having on the form of the culture. Specifically, how it is bringing to an end several decades of liberalism; several centuries of modernity; and several millennia of historical imagination. 

In light of these changes, the course assesses their impact, and the means by which we might mitigate those impacts. It is argued that this may be achieved by evolving what we think the role of education to be in the 21st century to be. 

Rolling together insights from history, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology, the course aims to bring a fresh, thought-provoking, and potentially hopeful perspective to problems we are all, by now, all too familiar with. 

Presentation of the course 

The course will be taught over five two-part lectures, with time for questions at the end of each.

Course sessions

1. The 21st Century and the Nature of Social Media
   This session first provides an overview of our current moment, as liberal democracy faces increasingly political polarity, a polarity that is being exacerbated by social media; second, it will be argued that the divisive role of social media is hardly surprising once one gains an insight on its surprising origins, and startling business model.  
    
2. Social Media’s Challenge to Liberalism and Modernity  
   This session first outlines the emphatic challenge social media poses to several decades of liberalism, which has been the basis of the international order since the middle of the 20th century. It then explores the challenge social media poses to several centuries of modernity, emphasising the symmetrical but counter-veiling relationship its invention has with that of the printing press.  
    
3. Social Media’s Challenge to the Nature of Complex Society  
   This session first outlines the challenge social media poses to several millennia of temporality. Does it mark the 'end of history'? We will then consider the true comparables for social media, in terms of previous evolutions in our communications technology. They are not what we think.  
    
4. Social Media as a Vector for Ideological Contagion  
   This penultimate session first examines the relationship between neoliberalism and social media, and sheds light on some hidden and counter-intuitive consequences of this infernal pairing. We’ll then explore the consequences of seeing social media as a vector for ideological contagion. If we seek a cure, we first need to know the nature of the disease.  
    
5. The Future of a Digitally Mediated Society  
   The final session considers how we may inoculate our minds against the ideological bewitchments that have been intensified through social media. The solutions don't lie where we typically think. It concludes this course by considering our current moment as a liminal stage in human history. But what is liminality, and what tends to happen? How will the story of social media end? 

Learning outcomes

You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course. 

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• to understand the true economic nature and ultimate political effect of social media
   
• to have gained a sense of the full political, cultural and historical context of social media's effect on society
   
• to have gained a sense of perspective on the significance of social media as an evolution in human communication technology, relative to its comparables throughout history

Required reading

Lanier, Jaron, Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Accounts Right now (New York: Henry Holt & Co 2018)  

O’Connell, Mark, To Be A Machine: adventures among cyborgs, utopians, hackers, and the futurists solving the modern problem of death (London: Granta 2017) 

Zuboff, Shoshana, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: the fight for a Human future at the new frontier of power (London: Profile Books 2019) 

Typical week: Monday to Friday 

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students.   

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to your learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events. 

Evaluation and Academic Credit  

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses.  

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay. 

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit. 

Certificate of attendance 

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.