Jim Davison Email and Phone Number

Language of Propaganda (LNGN 250)This course is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the use of language to manipulate and influence opinions via advertising, innuendo, jargon, emotive language, etc.My curriculum focuses on propaganda as deliberately flawed persuasive attempts from the perspective of argumentation theory. Propaganda is defined as a concept along with an exploration of logical fallacies, the minimal requirements for a sound logical argument, and how propaganda fails to meet these requirements. The second half of the course examines the psychological reasons why propaganda "works', how language can influence perception (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) and case-studies in propaganda.