This is a sociology class aimed at first year students of all backgrounds and interests. It does not require specific sociological knowledge. It is designed to be understood by any student with a general level of information about society, politics, the economy, and international affairs.

This course explores new media forms through discourses of culture, race, space, and power. From the development of the first electronic messaging systems in the 1960s to the advent of interactive social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace the role of computer-mediated communication in shaping economies, polities, and societies is discussed. Uses a wide range of sources—recent social science research, Web sites, Facebook, YouTube videos—to examine the roles of new media both in the United States and abroad.  We will critically evaluate how our social lives are increasingly digitally mediated and what implications this has on agency, individuality, spatiality, work, and community.