Computing and Society Concentration

Page Contents:01.About Concentration02.Subject Requirements03.Additional Resources

About the concentration

The Computing and Society concentration provides students with a framework to study the impact of computing on humanity, and the ways human behavior has equally shaped technical practice in computing. This concentration is recommended for students who might be interested in the ethics of computing in your life, or if you want to pursue careers in the computing industry, or in the field of public interest technology.

Drawing together classes from eleven of MIT’s humanistic and social science fields, this concentration helps students explore different disciplinary approaches to computation. Classes in the Computing and Society concentration discuss the following questions: How do economists, philosophers, and historians think of the relationship between automation and labor displacement? How do artists and media scholars think of the relationship between computing and creativity? What do political science and international relations have to say about the regulation of AI?

Students who complete the concentration will gain a greater understanding of how changes in computational power have refashioned fundamental questions about community, identity, democracy, and knowledge itself. Students majoring in computing fields will gain greater fluency to analyze the tools they work with, and also new ideas about applications. They also gain tools for drawing on humanities and social science fields to improve the social, cultural, and political impact of computing tools.

Concentration requirement

Four of any of the subjects listed below, selected in consultation with the Concentration Advisor. A HASS Concentration may include only one subject that also counts toward the HASS Distribution Requirement. 

Anthropology (Course 21A)

21A.311 The Social Life of Medical Objects, HASS-S

21A.500J Technology and Culture, HASS-S

21A.504J Cultures of Computing, HASS-S

21A.505 The Anthropology of Sound, HASS-S

21A.511 Hacking from the South, HASS-S

 

History (Course 21H)

21H.383 Technology and the Global Economy, HASS-S

21H.S02 Drugs and Data: an Introduction to Digital History, HASS-H

 

Comparative Media Studies/Writing (CMS & Course 21W)

CMS.360 Introduction to Civic Media, HASS-H

CMS.361 Networked Social Movements, HASS-S

CMS.401 The Algorithmic Eye: Computing in Visual Media, HASS-H

CMS.560 K-12 Computer Science Education: Tracing the Past and Plotting the Future, HASS-S

CMS.595 Learning, Media, and Technology, HASS-S

CMS.614 Critical Internet Studies, HASS-H

CMS.616J Games and Culture, HASS-S

CMS.701 Current Debates in Media, HASS-H

 

Economics (Course 14)

14.15[J] Networks, HASS-S

14.27 Economics of Digitization, HASS-S

 

Global Languages (Course 21G)

21G.036 Advertising and Media: Comparative Perspectives, HASS-H

21G.038 China in the News: The Untold Stories, HASS-H

21G.067 Digital Media in Japan and Korea, HASS-H

 

Linguistics and Philosophy (Course 24)

24.09 Minds and Machines, HASS-H, CI-H

24.131 Ethics of Technology, HASS-H

24.222 Decisions, Games, and Rational Choice, HASS-H

24.C40 Ethics of Computing, HASS-H

24.S00 AI and Rationality, HASS-H

Literature (Course 21L)

21L.017 The Art of the Probable, HASS-H, CI-H

21L.707 Problems in Cultural Interpretation: AI and the Literature of Consciousness, HASS-H

21L.489[J] Interactive Narrative, HASS-A

 

Political Science (Course 17)

17.055 Just Code: The Ethical Lifestyle of Machine Learning, HASS-S

17.265 Public Opinion and American Democracy, HASS-S

17.309J Science, Technology, and Public Policy, HASS-S, CI-H

17.445 International Relations Theory in the Cyber Age, HASS-S

17.447 Cybersecurity, HASS-S

17.839 Democracy and AI, HASS-S

 

Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

STS.002 Finance and Society, HASS-S, CI-H

STS.005J Data and Society, HASS-H

STS.044 Technology and Self: Things and Thinking, HASS-S

STS.047 Quantifying People: A History of Social Science, HASS-S

STS.083 Computers and Social Change, HASS-H

STS.085J Foundations of Information Policy, HASS-S

 

Theater (Course 21T)

21T.424 What are we Building?: Culture, Methods, and Alternative Visions to Sociotechnical Futures, HASS-A

 

Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS)

WGS.111 Gender and Media Studies, HASS-H

WGS.115 Gender and Technology, HASS-H

WGS.123[J] History of Women in Science and Engineering, HASS-H

WGS.183 Feminism and Data, HASS-S

WGS.243 Topics in Gender, Data, and Design, HASS-S

Additional resources

For more information, contact the concentration advisor, Professor Dwai Banerjee. Alternately, contact the STS Academic Office or the SHASS academic administrator for support.

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