CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY

Course objectives

The course aims to offer to the students the conceptual and methodological tools for a critical knowledge of the past and its complex and changing relationships with the present time. The general goal of the course is to transfer to the student the ability to problematize and contextualize, in a long-term framework, the analysis of the political-institutional, social and cultural processes of the contemporary age, stimulating a constant and close comparison between the historical method and the disciplines that concur to widen its visual angle and to enrich its analytical-conceptual instrumentation: mainly the sciences of the social and cultural processes, political and juridical-institutional sciences, social psychology, political philosophy, anthropology, sciences of language. A more specific objective of the course is to provide students, within the framework of the more general knowledge and the multidisciplinary vision described above, an adequate basic knowledge of the history of information systems and of the cultural industry in the age of the 'public' and 'global networks', with particular attention to the political, social and cultural dimension of the relationship between communication and power. At the end of the learning process the student will have to demonstrate knowledge and ability to understand history as a study of long-term change, in order to develop adequate and discerning skills in the analysis of social, political and cultural contexts, to raise awareness look at the diversity of the points of view on social reality, to develop a complex and problematic approach to the increasingly global and interconnected society of our time. The student will then have to demonstrate his ability to face complex issues in the field of contemporary history, mainly in its international, political-institutional, socio-cultural dimensions, and, more specifically, in the social history of the media and the relationship between power and communication, with the support of advanced textbooks, seminar meetings, multimedia resources. The student must also demonstrate that he is able to apply the acquired knowledge in a competent and reflective way, both to conceive and support arguments, and to solve problems in his field of study. It will therefore have to show itself capable of gathering and systematizing data, as well as selecting, cross-checking and analyzing information sources, organizing them in a congruent manner, establishing links and logical links to support his own reasoning skills and a more mature individual critical sense. The study of contemporary history is consequently indispensable also in order to acquire, in line with the educational objectives of the degree course in Public and business communication, both general and specific communication and expressive abilities, in the face of the student's more general need to be endowed with that cultural sensitivity essential to dialectical confrontation, to relational activity in public and private organizations and institutions, in problem solving activities.

Channel 1
ANDREA GUISO Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
1. The Apocalypse of modernity: the Great War in the history of the contemporary age 2. Liberal Globalizations and Red Globalizations 3. After the Victory. The (failed) try to build a new international order. 4. The enigma of democracy. 5. Global crisis: politics and economy after 1929 5. The new order of empires and the struggle for world hegemony 6. The Second World War 7. Bretton Woods and the birth of multilateralism: globalization at the service of national policies 8. The divided world: the international system of the Cold War 9. Europeanism and European integration 10. The processes of decolonization and the theme of development 11. The society of opulence and its protesters 12. The age of fracture and the "shock of the global" (1970s) 13. Second Cold War and new trends in international relations 14. The neoliberal project of government: the eighties in historical perspective 15. The collapse of communism and its global consequences 16. The illusion of the end of history and the difficult search for a new international order 17. The Europe of Maastricht 18. Beyond the West. The new geopolitics of the XXI century 19. September 11, 2001 20. Subprime. The crisis of global finance and its systemic consequences 21. United States and China: the new (financial) balance of terror. 22. Postpolitics and postdemocracy.
Prerequisites
It doesn't require formal prerequisites
Teaching mode
Blended
Frequency
Attendance is not compulsory
Exam mode
The exam will be an oral interview, aimed at verifying the knowledge acquired by each student, their ability to correctly organize information as well as their skills in individuating patterns and causal links in the study of history.
Lesson mode
The course will consist of lectures during which audio -visual materials will be used
Channel 2
ELENA PAPADIA Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
State-builiding, nation-building: the Italian and German cases. Socialism: Marx, Bakunin, the I and II International. The Italian case, from I International to PSI. Empires. World War I. The new hegemonic role of the United States. Building a mass consumer society. New Deal. The Bolshevik revolution and the birth of the USSR. Europe between two wars. The advent of fascism and the construction of the regime. Nazism. Stalinism. World War II. The structure of Europe in the post-war period. The cold war. Decolonization. The Italian case: from the second post-war period to the economic boom. New subjects, new rights: women and Afro-Americans. Italy in the Sixties. The Seventies in Italy and Europe. Perestroika. Reagan, Thatcher and the neoliberal phase. The Craxi years. The end of a world: 1989-1991.
Prerequisites
Not required.
Books
- A.M. Banti, "L'età contemporanea. Dalla grande guerra a oggi" (una qualsiasi edizione disponibile); - P. Ortoleva, "Il secolo dei media. Stili, dinamiche paradossi", Il Saggiatore 2022BIBLIOGRAFIA PER I NON
Teaching mode
Considering the Covid-19 emergency, the course or some parts of it could be delivered on-line (real-time meetings via Meet).
Frequency
Class attendance is optional.
Exam mode
Since the test will consist of open-ended questions, students will be assessed not only for their acquired knowledge, but also with reference to their language skills.
Bibliography
vedi sopra
Lesson mode
Considering the Covid-19 emergency, the course or some parts of it could be delivered on-line (real-time meetings via Meet).
FEDERICO GODDI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The course will address the main events of the 20th century: from the Great War to the interwar crisis; the rise of totalitarianisms; the Second World War; the Cold War years, decolonisation and the emergence of supranational organization; the welfare state and the consumer society. The main issues of the 20th century will be analysed in a long-term perspective.
  • Lesson code1052002
  • Academic year2024/2025
  • CourseCorporate and Public Administration Communication
  • CurriculumSingle curriculum
  • Year1st year
  • Semester2nd semester
  • SSDM-STO/04
  • CFU9
  • Subject areaDiscipline sociali e mediologiche