Unit SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURAL AND COMMUNICATION PROCESSES
- Course
- Sciences of education
- Study-unit Code
- 35081309
- Curriculum
- Educatore professionale socio-pedagogico
- Teacher
- Piero Dominici
- Teachers
-
- Piero Dominici
- Hours
- 36 ore - Piero Dominici
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2020
- Offered
- 2022/23
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- SPS/08
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- 1) Communication is complexity Hypercomplexity is not – has never been – an option; it is a “fact of life”: unfortunately, there is still too little awareness of the fact that the hypercomplexity that we are facing has extended so far as to make it very complicated and difficult to attempt to formulate reductive schemes of complexity or to to analyze it; in fact the resulting view would at best be partial. The real issue is that we have never been (and are still not being) educated and taught to recognize this hypercomplexity, or at any rate, not by using our own heads. An inadequacy which has become even more apparent in this society of interdependency and of global interconnections: as I have been saying for years, a “new ecosystem” (1996) in which everything is (or at least, appears to be) linked and connected, within non-linear processes and dynamics, with many variables and concauses that must be considered.It follows that a new communication culture is needed, which would be open to sharing and understanding, capable of influencing the social mechanisms in developing and favouring trust and cooperation. Our extraordinary scientific discoveries and technological innovations not only open dizzily onto as yet unimaginable horizons and scenarios, but show, ever more clearly, the urgency of radically rethinking education, teaching and training, and of a systemic approach to complexity, underlining the substantial inadequacy of our schools and universities in dealing with this hypercomplexity, in dealing with the indeterminateness and ambivalence of the ongoing metamorphosis, in dealing with the global extension of all political, social and cultural processes. The social and cultural innovation belongs to those who will succeed in healing the fracture between the human and the technological, to those who will succeed in redefining and rethinking the complex relationships between the natural and the artificial, to those who will manage to bring knowledge and skills together (not to separate them), to those who will, furthermore, know how to unite and merge the two cultures (scientific and humanistic), both in terms of education and formative training and in defining profiles and professional competences. In this sense, the urgency that can be felt is to leave behind what I – long before it came into vogue – first called “false dichotomies”: theory vs. practice/research; scientific fields vs. the humanities; knowledge vs. competences; hard skills vs. soft skills. The urgent need to heal this fracture further implies a need for rethinking the very concepts of liberty and responsibility on a relational basis.
2) The new Global and Hyperconnected Ecosystem “The interconnected society is a hypercomplex society, in which the management and processing of information and knowledge have by now become our main resources, a kind of society where the exponential growth of opportunities for connection and information transmission that constitute the fundamental factors of economic and social development, do not yet correspond to an analogous increase in the opportunity for communication, which we define as the social process of knowledge sharing that entails equality and reciprocity (inclusion). Technology, the social networks and more in general the digital revolution, despite having determined a paradigm shift in the setting up of the structural conditions, allowing the interdependency (and the efficiency) of the systems and organizations, and having intensified the intangible flow between social actors, have not yet been able to guarantee that the interactive networks that have been created will generate genuine communicative relationships, based on, that is, truly shared, symmetrical rapports. In other words, the network has constructed a new ecosystem of communication (1996) but, although it has designated a knowledge zone, it cannot by itself assure horizontality or symmetrical relationships. Again, the difference comes down to who and how: the people and the
uses that they make of technology, beyond the potential interests at stake.” (Dominici, 1998 and 2014, 2019)
Important: During the lessons, particular attention will be given to questions concerning the method and the approach: complexity, systems theory and systemic thinking. - Reference texts
- Recommended reading
1.G. Boccia Artieri, F.Colombo, G.Gili, Comunicare. Persone, relazioni, media, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2022.
2. P.Dominici (2014), Dentro la Società interconnessa. La cultura della complessità per abitare i confini e le tensioni della civiltà ipertecnologica, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2019
-> Students who cannot attend the course will integrate the exam program with the following book or, in alternative, with the two following articles:
3a. P.Dominici, La comunicazione nella società ipercomplessa. Condividere la conoscenza per governare il mutamento, FrancoAngeli, Roma 2011.
In alternative:
3b.V.Perniciaro, Ognuno ride a modo suo, Rizzoli, Milano 2022.
P.Dominici, Communication and Social Production of Knowledge. A new contract for the Society of Individuals, in «Comunicazioni Sociali», n°1/2015, Vita & Pensiero, Milano 2015. ISSN: 03928667 - PEER REVIEWED
3c. P.Dominici, For an Inclusive Innovation. Healing the fracture between the human and the technological, in, European Journal of Future Research, Springer, 2017, PEER REVIEWED, DOI: 10.1007/s40309-017 - Educational objectives
- objectives
Learning outcomes By the end of the course, students will have acquired:
1) the knowledge of the most topical issues covered in the lessons 2) the ability to formulate – logical and coherent - arguments on the topics and to identify the connections between the levels of analysis involved 3) the ability to interpret data and recognize the methodological implications 4) the ability to formulate assessments in a fully autonomous manner 5) communicative skills for developing arguments in support of their ideas 6) the ability, through reasoning and insight, to define possible solutions and to anticipate new problems. - Prerequisites
- Considered the issues and topics that will be covered in the lessons, it is strongly recommended to the students (attending and not) to have acquired knowledge (at least, the fundamental ones) concerning the following subjects:
1) sociological field: knowledge of the main sociological theories;
2) methodological framework: basic knowledge of educational and social research methodology, with relative epistemological implications. - Teaching methods
- Mode of delivery Classroom lectures (face-to-face), debate, seminars and practical training, but also Laboratory activities aimed, with particular attention to
the practice of the "debate" (since 1999)
Other information It is recommended that you always contact before the professor to define the appointment (email, skype, cell phone) Altre info: Prof.Piero Dominici (PhD) Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science Abilitazione Scientifica a Professore Universitario di II Fascia
Scientific Director of the Complexity Education Project https://www.complexityeducation.com/ Director (Scientific Listening) – Global Listening Centre Complexity and Systems Thinking Member of World Complexity Science Academy Registro Formatori Professionisti AIF Linkedin: http://bit.ly/1TUwAyK
Visiting Professor Professor of: Public Communication, Sociology of Politics, Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes, Intelligence Activities. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze Sociali, Umane e della Formazione,
Università degli Studi di Perugia Piazza G. Ermini, 1 - 06123 Perugia skype:pierodominici @dominicipi For those interested in collaborating in the research activities you can see www.worldacademy.org
e-mail: piero.dominici@unipg.it skype: pierodominici
mob: +39 -392 /1879214
Blog “Fuori dal Prisma” de Il Sole 24 Ore: http://pierodominici.nova100.ilsole24ore.com/
Should the health emergency persist, the lessons will be held in blended mode - Other information
- Mode of delivery Classroom lectures (face-to-face), debate, seminars and practical training, but also Laboratory activities aimed, with particular attention to
the practice of the "debate" (since 1999)
Other information It is recommended that you always contact before the professor to define the appointment (email, skype, cell phone) Altre info: Prof.Piero Dominici (PhD) Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.
Scientific Director of CHAOS - International research and Education Programme on "Complex Human Adaptive Organizations and Systems".
Director (Scientific Listening) – Global Listening Centre Complexity and Systems Thinking Member of World Complexity Science Academy Registro Formatori Professionisti AIF Linkedin: http://bit.ly/1TUwAyK
Visiting Professor Professor of: Public Communication, Sociology of Politics, Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes, Intelligence Activities. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze Sociali, Umane e della Formazione,
Università degli Studi di Perugia Piazza G. Ermini, 1 - 06123 Perugia
skype:pierodominici
@dominicipi For those interested in collaborating in the research activities of the
, you can see the site www.worldacademy.org
e-mail: piero.dominici@unipg.it skype: pierodominici
mob: +39 -392 /1879214
Blog “Fuori dal Prisma” de Il Sole 24 Ore: http://pierodominici.nova100.ilsole24ore.com/ - Learning verification modality
- Assessment methods The exam is always oral (oral exam) and it has a duration of at least 25 minutes.
The objectives of the exam are many:1) to verify the knowledge of the topics covered during the course;2) to evaluate the ability to analyze and make connections between the issues; 3) to evaluate the communication skills gained. It's also planned a presentation by the students of individual papers about topics covered in the course. Students may also choose to discuss the projects they developed, always concerning topics analyzed in the lessons. - Extended program
- Main themes: Method and approach issues: complexity approach and systemic perspective Paradigm shift and Systems Thinking Communication systems and "bounded rationality" The inadequacy of linear models Communication is complexity (Dominici, 1995 and following) Paradigms of communication The structure of the communicative relationship The strategic function of language: between convention and arbitrariness The functions of communication Verbal communication and non-verbal communication Communication models "The essential is invisible to the eyes": the urgency to educate to communication The centrality of educational processes Theories and methods of media analysis Manipulation, persuasion and influence The limited effects of media and digital networks The contribution of the Sciences of complexity and Systems Theory Critical theory and culturological theory Long-term effects: Agenda Setting, Spiral of Silence and Cultivation Theory The new information paradigm New public sphere and global ecosystem Models and theories of digital media Epistemological and ethical implications of the digital revolution Define social media The transition to Hypercomplexity and the urgency of a "culture of communication" (1996) __________
An approach and research since 1995