Course Plan
Please review each week's topics and reading in the sidebar on the right =>
PART I: THEORY
Week 1: Introduction to the course + topic (requirements, the syllabus, etc.) + preliminary discussions of some underlying concepts (Enmity, social thinking, attributing behaviour to persons or situations, attitudes and actions, etc.).
Week 2: Group Formation, Social Identity Theory, Enemy Image and Conflict
Week 3: National Holiday- no class.
Week 4: Prejudice (What is prejudice, Social and cognitive roots of Prejudice, Race and Gender Prejudice), Stereotyping, Prejudice, Discrimination, Scapegoating: Class exercise. Group behaviour and Dynamics (Group polarization, Groupthink), Realistic Conflict Theory, Sherif’s Robbers Cave Experiment, Social Dominance Theory)
Week 5: Knowledge Structures (Motivated Reasoning, Behavioural /social scripts and influences), The Elaboration likelihood model), The Mass Media and its ability to shape our opinions, The language of war, the 'pro-us' illusion- reading week.
Week 6: Visual representations of enmity => Propaganda (Definition, Characteristics, Techniques, Why does it exist? How does it work? Creating an Enemy using propaganda.
PART II: APPLICATION
Week 7: Midterm Quiz + The Winter War
Week 8: 'Enemies of America'
Week 9: Enemy Images and Hollywood
Week 10: The "Troubles" in Northern Ireland
Week 11: The Israeli Palestinian Conflict
Weeks 12+13: Students' presentations + class discussions