The Anthropology of Politics: U.S. Presidential Election Edition
Political marketing gets examined as a distinct American industry and export, tracing how consultants, pollsters and media strategists built the modern campaign business and then spread it abroad. The course looks at the cultural assumptions and moral arguments embedded in that practice, asking how the idea of democracy gets reinterpreted as different countries adopt American-style campaigning. Case material draws on debates among political consultants and scholars about what citizenship and voter choice actually mean once elections are run as marketing campaigns. Materials include MIT OpenCourseWare's syllabus, readings and assignments from the anthropology department, allowing self-paced study of how cultural context shapes political practice across the U.S. and other democracies. No certificate is offered, but full course materials are free to use under MIT's open license.