POLITICS, POWER AND COMMUNICATION Assignment 2 – Essay (2000 words) – Choose ONE of the following essay questions: 

1) Using Critical Discourse Studies, explore the construction of a social group 

identity (gender, class, ethnicity, race, religion, etc.) in a media outlet of your choice (Mass Media or Social Media). 

2) Using Critical Discourse Studies, explore the political campaigning of a party 

and/or candidate in country of your choice. 

3) Critically assess the democratic role of media (in general) in a country of your 

choice by considering concepts and debates around the ‘public sphere‘. 

4) Advertising campaigns or political communication? Critically discuss the 

interconnectedness of the two and the consequences, by referring to relevant examples of your choice. 

5) By analysing relevant examples of your choice, explore the impact of social 

media on political communication, participation and democracy in a specific 

social context. 

6) Have claims regarding the democratisation of power on digital media been 

realised in practice? How has communicative power changed in comparison to previous models of mass media? And with what consequences? Answer this 

question by exploring specific examples of your choice. 7) What is the ‘neoliberal university ? Explain and evaluate the usefulness of this 

term with reference to scholarly debates around Higher Education in the twenty–first century. 

8) By analysing media discourses of populism/nationalism/nationalist) identity in 

a specific case, consider how digital/media has impacted such discourses. 

9) Explore the links between Social Media design and its Techno–Discursive 

impact on the contemporary rise of digital discourses of right–wing populism, misogyny and Islamophobia by exploring specific examples and context. 

10) Evaluate the impact of digital media on control, power and politics by focusing 

on their potential to enable political action or communication. Support your argument via one or more examples. 

11) Critically assess neoliberal feminist discourses by discussing relevant 

examples of your choice.

1) Using Critical Discourse Studies, explore the construction of a social group 

identity (gender, class, ethnicity, race, religion, etc.) in a media outlet of your choice (Mass Media or Social Media). 

2) Using Critical Discourse Studies, explore the political campaigning of a party 

and/or candidate in country of your choice. 

3) Critically assess the democratic role of media (in general) in a country of your 

choice by considering concepts and debates around the ‘public sphere‘. 

4) Advertising campaigns or political communication? Critically discuss the 

interconnectedness of the two and the consequences, by referring to relevant examples of your choice. 

5) By analysing relevant examples of your choice, explore the impact of social 

media on political communication, participation and democracy in a specific 

social context. 

6) Have claims regarding the democratisation of power on digital media been 

realised in practice? How has communicative power changed in comparison to previous models of mass media? And with what consequences? Answer this 

question by exploring specific examples of your choice. 7) What is the ‘neoliberal university ? Explain and evaluate the usefulness of this 

term with reference to scholarly debates around Higher Education in the twenty–first century. 

8) By analysing media discourses of populism/nationalism/nationalist) identity in 

a specific case, consider how digital/media has impacted such discourses. 

9) Explore the links between Social Media design and its Techno–Discursive 

impact on the contemporary rise of digital discourses of right–wing populism, misogyny and Islamophobia by exploring specific examples and context. 

10) Evaluate the impact of digital media on control, power and politics by focusing 

on their potential to enable political action or communication. Support your argument via one or more examples. 

11) Critically assess neoliberal feminist discourses by discussing relevant 

examples of your choice.