Social Inequality, Digital Divides, & Algorithmic Literacy

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

n the years following its inception, utopian narratives of the Internet promised unfettered access to information, markets, and relationships that would allow users to create wealth and contest power structures by building platform-based enterprises and values-based virtual communities. While some of these benefits have accrued to individuals and society, a significant body of research demonstrates that the reality of the Internet's impact on the world is much more complex. Grounded in key sociological texts, this course focuses on empirical research concerning how "Digital Divides" - differences in individuals' access to, participation in, and benefits from using the Internet - exist on geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic dimensions. It also examines the important role skill and literacy play in mitigating these differences, and takes up the nascent understanding of algorithmic literacy, the increasingly critical knowledge set people need as they navigate the many facets of everyday life now powered by artificial intelligence. As part of the course, students will learn how to critically evaluate empirical social scientific publications and also compose their own literature review concerning a topic related to the course theme.