MECO6913 - Public Opinion, Policy and Public Sphere

Semester 2, 2013  |  Credit Points: 6

Coordinator: Alana Margaret Mann
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%), 1x500wd position paper presentation (10%), 1x2500wd essay (40%), participation (10%).

Textbooks

Habermas, J. (1992) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Classes

1x2-hr seminar/week

Please Note: This timetable is a draft timetable and subject to change.

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The following units are co-taught with other Departments

• ENGL6984 Creative Non-Fiction Workshop in Semester 1 2013