Smiling in European". Exploring Social Policies and Media Perspectives Between Europe and the United States 2401-OG-EN-SiE

The ongoing social and income stratification of American society, political and societal tensions, and the last three presidential election cycles underline the differences between the US and European countries, especially regarding social policies, welfare, healthcare, education, and media more and more.

The phrase "smiling in European" became popular amongst social media users, referring to citizens of European countries, observing social, political, and pop cultural events occurring in the United States - from the point of view of the nations with, for ex., universal healthcare, education and social security measures, strict gun laws etc. The point of view that has a hard time understanding American approaches to those issues - and vice versa.

The course tackles the main differences between European policies and standards vs American ones, analyzing their roots and reasons, especially through media and communication studies, focusing not only on actual mechanisms behind them but also their media and pop culture emanations and imaginations.

Total student workload

Contact hours with teacher: - participation in discussion seminar - 25 hrs - consultations - approx. 15 hrs Self-study hours: - preparation for discussion seminar - 35 hrs - writing essays - 30 hrs - reading literature - 30 hrs Total: 135 hrs (5 ECTS)

Learning outcomes - knowledge

Learning outcomes - knowledge Student W1: has a basic knowledge of the history of the USA, its political system, and the political systems of major European countries W2: possesses knowledge of contemporary American society, media, and politics W3: is familiar with the concepts of social policies, welfare, healthcare, education, and media W4: is acquainted with the role of these concepts in contemporary American and European societies

Learning outcomes - skills

Student U1: can analyze the specifics of social, societal, and media-related processes in the USA and major European countries U2: is capable of using these concepts within media and communication framework U3: has advanced skills in performing research insights into the intersection of these processes U4: can define and explain the differences between US and European approaches to social policies, welfare, healthcare, education, and media

Learning outcomes - social competencies

Student K1: understand the significance of the role of social policies, welfare, healthcare, education, and media K2: understands the need for exploring the role of media in shaping views and opinions about those issues K3: is ready to prepare short papers and research proposals K4: participates in the research process in the field of media and communication studies K5: can cooperate in the group

Teaching methods

Expository teaching methods: - conversation lecture - description - discussion Exploratory teaching methods - case study - classic problem-solving - practical - writing of a paper

Exploratory teaching methods

- project work
- case study
- presentation of a paper

Online teaching methods

- exchange and discussion methods
- methods developing reflexive thinking
- cooperation-based methods
- content-presentation-oriented methods
- games and simulations

Course coordinators

Olga Wadowska

Assessment criteria

1. You have to attend class. No matter what the reason is, you may skip only 2 meetings after the introduction class.
2. You have to be prepared, that is, be familiar with assigned readings and ready for the discussion. I don’t expect you’ll understand every assigned reading immediately, but I require that you’ll give a try.
3. The most important quality

Grading
1. Participation in the discussion (12 points): active class participation and familiarity with readings
2. Tasks and problems (12 points): active in-group participation in solving the practice-oriented case studies.
3. Essay (10 points): 5 pages long critical essay on one of the selected topics and its presentation in front of the class.
34 points in total

to 50% (17 points and less) - 2 (fail)
from 51% - (18-20 points) - 3.0 (satisfactory)
from 61% - (21-23 points) - 3.5 (satisfactory plus)
from 71% - (24-26 points) - 4.0 (good)
from 81% - (27-29 points) - 4.5 (good plus)
from 91% - (30 points and more) - 5.0 (very good)

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 2401-OG-EN-SiE in USOSweb