[Air-L] PhD Course on Comparative Sociology of Information Societies

[Holly Kruse]

Forwarded on request.

Holly

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Subject:      PhD Course on Comparative Sociology of Information Societies
From:      "Tron Harald Torneby" <t.h.torneby at sv.uio.no>
Date:      Wed, April 15, 2009

The University of Oslo offer a PhD course on the topic "Comparative
Sociology of Information Societies" in the summer of 2009.

Course title: Comparative Sociology of Information Societies

Lecturer: Dr. Philip N. Howard, Associate Professor,Department of
Communication, University of Washington, USA

Main disciplines: Sociology, Communication and Media Studies

Dates: 27 - 31 July 2009
Location: University of Oslo, Norway

Course credits: 10 ECTS

Online application form and further information:
http://www.sv.uio.no/oss/courses2009.html


Course objectives
This course on the comparative sociology of information societies will
critically assess theories of international development from across the
social sciences. From political science, theories of modernization,
dependency, underdevelopment help explain both surges of economic wealth
from high tech sectors and the persistence of international institutions
for extracting wealth from poor countries. From sociology, world systems
theory puts the development of new economic systems into deep historical
perspective, and the new institutionalism highlights systems of
institutional isomorphism, competitive mimicry, normative emulation, and
coercion that might explain how hardware and software systems become
global standards. Communication offers theories of technology diffusion,
cultural production and consumption online, and topical expertise on how
engineering standards and telecommunications policy become tools of social
control.

Many social scientists are studying the impact of new information and
communication technologies (ICTs) on our economic, political and
cultural lives. The range of phenomena studied across the disciplines is
impressive: the global economy, the organizational behavior of firms,
and the dot-com boom; the structure of the world system, the
bureaucratic efficiency of states, the international politics of
technical standards; cultural production and consumption, intercultural
communication, and ownership diversity of digital media systems. The use
of new ICTs, such as mobile phones and the internet, is also being
studied in different contexts, from small and local organizational field
sites such as work places, households, and schools, to large
institutions such as states, firms, social movements and justice
systems. In addition, there are new social forms of organization in
cyberspace, forms of organization that help define and indeed constitute
information societies. The goals of this class are:

- to understand the role of information and communication technology in
international development;

- to understand the theoretical perspectives on technology and
development from different disciplines by exploring their use in cross
case comparisons;

- to critically assess these theories, applying them in a personal
research project or case study of interest to the student.

What is an information society? How do well do these theories ‹ proposed
to help explain transitions from agrarian to industrial society and the
evolution of late industrial capitalism ‹ help explain the network
society, open society or information society? Is e-government a
straightforward means of building state capacity and further
rationalizing public bureaucracies, or are there signs of a deeper
transformation in the institution of the state? What is the role of
blogs, wikis and other digital media systems in the culture and news
diets of people living in authoritarian regimes? While the role of
mobile phones and the internet in democratic movements has been feted
from Iqaluit to Indonesia, no political revolution has occurred because
of the internet. But today, are democratic transitions possible without
it? How has the international high tech sector been structured to limit
the types of technology production and consumption in different
countries? If there are persistent international institutions for
extracting natural resource wealth from poor countries, do these
institutions have a similar role in extracting information, innovation,
or ingenuity from poor countries?

We will critically explore the concepts often used in discussions of
contemporary international political economy, including ³network
society², ³digital divide,² and ³information society². We will also
review the theories of modernization, dependency, and underdevelopment
that have been used to understand the problems and prospects of
development. Case studies from around the world will be used wherever
possible. Students will have significant freedom to develop their own
research interests through a paper on a topic of their own choosing.
Through diverse readings, students will also learn about the various
methodologies for studying technology and society.

Although this course has no formal prerequisites, students with at least
one substantive course and one methods course in the political, social
or communication sciences will be best prepared for the pace and
expectations of this course.

Online information and application form:
http://www.sv.uio.no/oss/index.html



-- 
Tron Harald Torneby
Senior Executive Officer


Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Oslo
P.O.Box 1084 Blindern
N-0317 Oslo
Norway


Phone: +47 22 85 44 49

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Oslo Summer School in Comparative
Social Sciences Studies
http://www.sv.uio.no/oss/index.html
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