MECO6913 - Public Opinion, Policy and Public Sphere

Semester 2, 2012  |  Credit Points: 6

Coordinator: Alana Mann
Phone: +61 2 9351 2249
Email: alana.mann@sydney.edu.au

Description

This unit analyses the relationship between professional communication and public opinion. It focuses on theories of influence and persuasion in the context of the development of policy, and how these are reflected in the public sphere. It develops the notion of the public sphere as represented by Habermas, Fraser, Schudson and others, focusing in particular on the transformation of the public sphere in terms of postmodern public relations.

Assessments

1x1000wd report (20%), 1x1000wd stakeholder position paper (20%), 1x15-min presentation of position paper (10%), 1x2500wd final essay (40%), attendance and participation (10%)

Textbooks

Recommended Reading:
Habermas, J., The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992

Classes

1x2-hr seminar/week

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The following units are co-taught with other Departments

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