DSPO 25A84 - The politics of visibility of organizations and individuals

Visibility is commonly thought to be a positive attribute that plays a crucial role in influencing public opinion, prompting social change, and advancing individual and collective goals. But is this true, and how is visibility actually practiced? This course invites students to explore visibility as a meaningful social dimension of everyday life. Situated at the intersection of social theory, political science, organisation studies, and urban research, this seminar engages with key debates around visibility, including its relationship to recognition, stigma, power, surveillance, and socio-spatial politics in urban settings. We will discuss how visibility is practiced by individuals, groups, and organisations, and interrogate its implications across diverse contexts, with reference to i.e. discriminated minorities, the gig-economy and totalitarian regimes. The course will equip students with foundational knowledge in the emerging field of visibility studies and introduce the “visibility lens” as a critical tool for analysing contemporary debates and everyday phenomena.

There is no prerequisite for this course.

Participation (10%): oral participation in class.

Group presentation (45%): Students will identify a phenomenon (e.g. news item, historical event, or ethnographic observation) and reflect on the associated dynamics of visibility.

Final written exam (45%): Students will be asked to discuss a contemporary social/policy question using the knowledge on visibility acquired during the course.