Political Language Lab: Analyzing the Texts of Democracy

It seems like democracy is always in peril, or is it? From ancient Athens to modern times, democracy has evolved, morphed, and diverged with the belief that the governed should govern. Then, what does it mean for citizens to govern? Also, how can we define, measure, and know what the public's will mean when the size of the mass increases and communication technology is revolutionized. Can we analyze political conversations scientifically? The more we seek for answers, the deeper our questions about democracy and political communication become. Through reading foundational historical thinking about democracy, this course focus on the principles of political equality, participation, deliberation, and non-tyranny. We will explore how political conversations like Presidential Debates and the State of the Union Speeches reflect these democratic principles. The instructor will provide lessons about statistics and textual analysis programs which students will use to conduct communication research and present in front of their peers in a mini-conference at the end of the quarter. Students will develop a critical eye for the concept of democracy and social science literacy to help them evaluate the world around them better.