Analyze a sample of contemporary public discourse about the challenges facing our political institutions, paying particular attention to challenges and stresses that most directly affect the health of our democracy.
Public discourse includes academic writing, professional writing, political speeches or press releases, journalism, social media and popular culture (fiction, movies, TV).
American institutions we have discussed in class clustered around five areas: academe, journalism, business/markets, politics/government and diplomatic/military. Distinct institutions within those categories would include newspapers, social media, Congress, the police, the courts, political parties, and the like.
Discourse samples. You have wide latitude in choosing your sample (the sample is the set of writing or other types of expression you will analyze). The number of individual pieces in your sample depends on the format/genre of those pieces. If you choose longer formats/genres, such as magazine essays, it is probably best to use only 2-4 examples. If you choose to work with shorter formats/genres, such as letters to the editor or social media sources, you will need more examples in order to have a sufficient discourse to analyze. Your sample must include pieces which express differing viewpoints. The viewpoints do not need to be diametrically opposed; but they also should not be expressing identical ideas.
Analysis. This will be primarily a descriiptive analysis: you will be focusing on accurately describing, comparing, and contrasting the viewpoints expressed in the discourse, paying special attention to the underlying cultural constructs such as democracy and justice. You should also provide a brief historical context for the issues addressed in the discourse. For instance, if you select examples from the debates about voter identification, you should include a paragraph giving the general background of voting rights. Remember to consider the relationship between the institution/institutional stresses and the health of our democracy. You may include discussion of the your own view on the projected outcome of the current stresses on the institution and your recommended proposed responses to the problem, but this is not required.
Following are links to a few articles for every topic. You only need to choose one.
Academe
1. https://firstmonday.org/article/view/578/499
2. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/09/the-hive/305118/
3. https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-constitution-of-knowledge
4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-new-scientific-revolution-reproducibility-at-last/2015/01/27/ed5f2076-9546-11e4-927a-4fa2638cd1b0_story.html?utm_term=.04556b8ab4d1
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/08/27/researchers-replicate-just-13-of-21-social-science-experiments-published-in-top-journals/?noredirect=on
Journalism and media
1. https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
2. https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-business-693f55e3781a4c53a390a1e3b917c76e
3. https://www.witf.org/2021/01/28/countering-the-big-lie-witf-newsrooms-coverage-will-connect-lawmakers-with-their-election-fraud-actions/
4. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/03/when-candidates-make-reckless-statements-just-to-get-attention-should-they-get-attention-letter-from-the-editor.html
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/it-is-wrong–and-corrosive–to-conflate-unfavorable-news-and-fake-news/2019/10/11/47966484-ec48-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html
Politics
1. https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/national/pvi/introducing-2021-cook-political-report-partisan-voter-index
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/05/liz-cheney-republican-party-turning-point/
3. https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/rethinking-polarization
4. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/16/donald-trump-support-2020-oostburg-wisconsin-chevy-chase-maryland-225161/
5. https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/2118397501/3C791EA87C754BFCPQ/1?accountid=14577
I can provide you with additional articles if needed.
