In the past decade, growing trends of economic inequality have ignited protests across western democracies. This course surveys research about the role that mass media and digital culture play in contemporary discourse and mobilization around economic inequality.

It will discuss three central axes of inquiry: (1) Historical developments – how have media portrayals of economic inequality evolved in the past three decades? (2) Genre – how is economic inequality depicted across media genres such as news, drama, reality TV and comedy? (3) Technology – how do mass media institutions compare in their treatment of inequality to grassroots uses of social media and participatory culture platforms? Students will produce a report and an oral presentation that examines a case study of interest considering one (or more) of these axes.