Course Description
This course is designed to give students a richer understanding of political persuasion in the information age. Special attention will be focused on the politics of mass media representation in the late twentieth century. For the purpose of this course, "political rhetoric" will include all of the ways in which individuals and political and economic institutions use mass media channels in order to exercise power through the use of symbols. Particular attention will be focused on government persuasion campaigns such as the upcoming presidential election.
It is understood that political rhetoric serves multiple functions in a society. One of our goals this semester will be to discover what some of those functions are and how they are served. Because politics involves the exercise and distribution of resources and power, we will pay careful attention to the political economy of the mass media and the notion of public participation in democratic decision making.
Students should expect the following kinds of questions to be raised this semester:
We will also study theories of political rhetoric that will help us interpret the events and campaigns we study. Particular attention will be focused on theories of the public sphere and the political economy of contemporary political rhetoric. These issues will be approached both from the rhetorical tradition and from classical political and philosophical traditions. Students should expect to become conversant in some of these theories, and able to participate in scholarship related to them.
Required Texts:
Ben Attias, 444 Reader and Sourcebook, available at the Northridge Copy Center.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Packaging the President
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy
Buying the Presidency
Stauber and Rampton, Toxic Sludge is Good for You! Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry (Monroe, ME: Common Courage, 1995).
California Ballot
Reading Assignments
It is expected that each of the reading assignments will be completed by the time you come to class the day the assignment is due. The instructor urges you in the strongest possible terms to keep on schedule with the assigned readings and exercises. If you don't, you will probably have to work much harder to keep up with missed work. Additionally, in a small discussion class such as this one, it is obvious who has and has not completed the readings. Students who try to participate in the discussion without having completed the readings tend to degrade the intellectual experience for the other students.
Course Requirements
Assignments this semester will include one exam, three research assignments, an oral presentation, and a final scholarly paper.
Exam:20%
Research Exercises:30%
Oral Presentation:10%
Class Participation:20%
Final Paper:20%
Exam The exam, which will take place on October 14, will comprehensively cover the materials discussed in the course up to that point. The format of the exam will be essay and short answer. It is up to you to study and prepare for this exam. The best way to study is to keep up with the course materials on schedule. The instructor will not prepare a study guide for students; any study materials you use are your responsibilty. Research Assignments The first two research exercises will involve short position papers developed to address the demands of the exercise. These assignments will be handed out separately. One of these assignments, the Online Interactive Study Guide, will take place through posts to HyperNews on the World Wide Web.
Oral Presentations Students will orally present a persuasive speech addressing one of the issues on the California ballot (whether proposition or candidate). This speech will be about 5 minutes long, and will present a critical analysis of the issue addressed. In other words, the speech will not be a speech about why we should vote one way or another (although such a conclusion may be implicit in your findings). Rather, this will be a speech in which you offer an analysis of the rhetoric surrounding the issue. The position you take, then, will not simply be "for" or "against" a proposition, but will rather offer a new outlook on the proposition (or candidate) based on the course materials. Speeches will take place the week before the election (Oct. 28-Nov. 1).
Electronic Participation
Students will be expected to participate electronically in the class discussion through the use of Hypernews, which will be demonstrated early on in the semester. Thus students should expect to spend some time outside of class at a computer connected to the Internet. Computer labs are available on campus for students to use if you have no computer at home. I will not be allotting any class time to explaining how to use the Internet, although I will pass out handouts that will get you started. Your posting to HyperNews will constitute one half of your overall participation grade.
Final Paper
The final paper will be a 5-7 page research paper in which you take a position on some issue in Contemporary Political Rhetoric. The topic is wide open, but the argument you make in this paper should arise out of or be significantly enriched by the course readings. Some outside research will be necessary to do well on this assignment. You will present your findings to the class in a final oral presentation. I will hand out a list of suggested topics and resources under separate cover.
Attendance and Participation Statement
Regular attendance and participation in class discussion is expected. I will not be taking roll regularly nor evaluating student reasons for missing classes. The student alone is responsible for attending classes and finding out what was missed when s/he is unable to attend. I will not respond to phone calls, emails, or other messages whose content is some variant of "I can't make it to class today; are we doing anything important?" Take it as a given that we will never do anything unimportant, and show up to class or figure out on your own what happened in class. I am not interested in hearing about your reasons for missing classes. As adults I expect you to have confidence in your own system of priorities and act accordingly -- in other words, it's up to you, not me, to determine what is or isn't a good reason for missing classes. And it's up to you, not me, to make up missed work. Keep in mind that some missed work, such as participation in the day to day activities of the course, cannot be made up no matter how good your reasons.
Additionally, it is up to you to come to class prepared to participate as a citizen -- to listen attentively to others, to engage critically and creatively the perspectives of others, and to contribute meaningfully to discussions of the course materials. This means having all of the reading done when it is due, turning in assignments on time, and actively listening to and participating with your classmates and your instructor. Students who interrupt discussions by frequently arriving to class late, who constantly interrupt others without meaningfully listening to their comments, or who constantly bring up questions that would more appropriately be answered by a glance at the syllabus or during office hours (e.g. "when is this due?" or "what if I wasn't here when you handed out the assignment?" or "is this going to be on the test?") not only reflect poorly on their own class citizenship; they actively cheapen the educational experience of all of the other students. Procedural questions about what is expected of you in the class should be saved for office hours if they are not answered after a thorough re-reading of the class syllabus. Electronic mail is also a more appropriate forum for such questions.
Academic Honesty
I certainly hope you won't cheat in my class. If you are caught in any form of academic dishonesty, expect to fail the course and to be brought up on charges in accordance with the Student Conduct Code. If you are unsure what constitutes academic honesty, consult the university catalog and/or your therapist.
Late Assignments
In the past, I have had a lenient policy towards extensions and late assignments. However, due to the abuse of this lenience by a number of students and the unfairness perceived by other students who do their work on time, I will no longer be accepting any late assignments. I will listen sympathetically in emergency situations, but do not expect me to bend over backwards to help you because you forgot to get an assignment in on time, as it isn't fair to the rest of the class. It is up to you to decide what family and job committments have priority over this course. Additionally, you are urged to budget your time to allow for Murphy's Law and contingencies such as broken copiers, blackouts, riots, fires, and pets who like to snack on final drafts.
