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Johns Hopkins University | AS.196.312

Citizenship in the Digital Age

3.0

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The modern information technology revolution has radically transformed nearly every aspect of people’s lives, from the way they work to the way they worship, from their habits of socializing to the methods they use to pay taxes, vote, and otherwise participate in their political communities. People living in foreign places are connected more directly than ever to one another. Online communities develop, evolve, and form kinships whose boundaries largely ignore traditional Westphalian borders. These developments bring questions about the changing nature of citizenship to the fore. Such questions include: How have the rights and responsibilities of citizenship been altered by the rapid evolution and proliferation of digital technology over the past several decades? Are so-called “netizens” also citizens in any traditional sense? What is the role of the state in an everchanging technological world in which individuals connect with each other directly via the medium of the internet? In what ways should civic education evolve in this environment? How might Artificial Intelligence transform the nature of citizenship and who or what counts as a citizen? Can modern conceptions of political legitimacy survive present and future technological upheavals? This seminar course will examine the nature of citizenship within a context of rapid technological transformation. It will draw from readings in a number of disciplines, including Philosophy, Political Science, History, Computer Science and Economics. It will also draw from other forms of media, such as film and short videos. No specialized prerequisite knowledge in these disciplines will be expected of students. It is a reading-intensive course that will include a significant amount of in-class discussion.

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