| Unit name | Digital Economy and Society |
|---|---|
| Unit code | SOCIM0031 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Sveta Milyaeva |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
The rise of digital technologies inevitably shapes the economy. This unit will examine a range of aspects of digital economic life and some of the issues they raise for social theory. The digitalisation of the economy and markets prompts the question of the extent to which social processes, groups, institutional structures and culture remain significant in an apparently virtual domain. The unit will demonstrate that social economic relations and market transactions do not lose their social-ness with moving to the digital domain. Rather, the technologies manifest the social in markets in distinctive ways. The unit will reflect on this through considering the notions of economic action and value, digital labour, platform capitalism, market devices, digital market innovation, the automation of finance and the role of algorithms, collaborative and hybrid forms of economic exchanges, looking into monetisation of personal data, blockchain technology, algorithmic decision making, and digital privacy among other topics.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit will enhance the range of available options for postgraduate students at SPAIS. It will be made available as an optional unit choice for all SPAIS postgraduate students (e.g. MSc in Sociology and MSc in Global Political Economy), but is specifically aimed at students on the MSc in Digital and Technological Society programme. It will instantiate the epistemological narrative of the programme that insists on co-construction of (digital) technologies and society. The economic domain is increasingly digital, and the unit will demonstrate the that the processes of value creation and extraction are driven by technologies and data that are fundamentally social in their production.
An overview of content
The unit will provide a range of conceptual tools that would help to re-think economic and technological changes, such as embeddedness, materiality, performativity, etc.; it will also focus on processes of financialisation and valuation in digital economy, and on various case studies including, but not limited to, blockchain and digital money, high-frequency trading in financial markets, algorithmic decision-making, monetisation of data, surveillance capitalism, digital labour and digital privacy.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
The students will be able to think about digital economy as social scientists, by (1) critically re-assessing economics as an academic discipline and how it theorises economy and disregard the technologies and its role in economic processes, as well as (2) using the set of conceptual tools to understand the rapid economic and technological changes.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the unit, you will be able to demonstrate via the unit assessments:
The unit will be delivered through a range of teaching methods, such as lectures, seminars, group project development surgeries and and independent learning (using online resources provided to develop core unit knowledge). Lectures and essential readings will provide the foundational content; but, a substantial portion of the unit resources will be allocated to support independent learning and students’ work on their group projects and presentations of the projects. These ways of learning, which are interactive, applied (the provided conceptual tools will be used in their own enquiries), reflective and problem-based, are the best for engaging with the content that is highly dynamic and topical.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Assessment 1 (20% of the overall mark) - Group presentations on student-led case studies. This assessment will require students to make a genuine connection between the concepts learnt in class and the real-world cases that could be analysed using the concepts. The assessment is group presentations on student-led case studies: empirical material that have not yet been 'packaged' by academics to produce a set of theoretical questions about digital economy (ILOs 1,3,4)). This assessment will require a student group to do some independent research to develop and present a case study on the digital economy. A case study could be a specific issue/controversy, market, trade, regulation, etc. It will involve creating a data portfolio – a collection/range of specific data that, put together, 'tells a story' or contextualises students’ research. The groups will then have to analyse the data by identifying some possible theoretical considerations we have discussed and that are relevant/applicable to the data. Having analysed the data, the group will have to produce a presentation of the case study followed by peer discussion. The presentation should cover: introduction (why it is interesting), description of the sources used, the story, its analysis (theoretical), conclusions (so what?). Total length: 15 mins, then 5-10 mins for Q&A Each part of the presentation is assessed, including your group’s handling of questions.
Assessment 2 (80% of the overall mark) - 3,000 word essay (assesses ILOs 1-3) The summative essay will require students to develop an in-depth critical argument that draws on relevant readings, materials and debates covered in the unit (Addresses all ILOs).
When assessment does not go to plan
Where a student is eligible to resubmit they will normally complete the reassessment in the same format as outlined above. For the essay, students are expected to select a different question from the original essay question list. For the presentations, an equivalent individual presentation will be submitted online, with no Q&A.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. SOCIM0031).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
