American Studies 300 - End of Authority

New technologies for finding and disseminating information have created new channels and sources for people trying to determine “the truth” of anything. As traditional sources of authority, the news business, politicians, the academy, organized religion have all watched as public confidence in them declines, a new world of information has rushed in to fill the void. How do political identity and social class inform, and perhaps deform, knowledge, and credibility when making political choices? This class will assess the impact of new ways of “knowing,” and how the old American sources of authority have scrambled to keep pace, with special attention to the Presidential Election of 2016.

Limited to 30 students.  Fall and spring semesters.  McCloy Visiting Professor Suarez.