Culture and Society

Design, both as a process and outcome, never exists in a vacuum; every artefact or system we design is embedded in the social and cultural worlds. This course is relevant for design students as it empowers them to understand how what we design shapes cultures and societies, and vice versa, how cultural and societal logic, values, and processes influence our designs. The course helps students develop a comprehensive vocabulary and solid foundational knowledge of four theoretical concepts: Culture, Power, Identity, Society, and Change.

Culture: Complexity of defining culture(s) and how one can view culture in the design context.

Power: Understanding power through the concepts of structure and agency, and how design mediates relations of power.

Identity: Various perspectives and approaches to understanding the concept of identity and how identities are shaped through design. 

Change: Questioning the meaning of change in the context of design

Grappling with the conceptual understanding of power, identity, culture, and change equips design students to see beyond the surface and into the lived social and cultural realities that design shapes and is situated in. It helps design students to critically question, reflect, and understand themes such as who benefits and who gets marginalized by design, how people connect with designs through symbolic meanings and the lenses of identities such as gender, ethnicity, and class. Moreover, most contemporary designers intend to contribute to change for better futures. This course critically reflects on this concept of change as it raises the questions about what exactly should be changed and what should not, for whom these changes are designed, how change happens over time and place, and what the possible roles of the designer in relation to change might be. Together, insights from this course will inspire students to develop design visions based on more profound socio-cultural sensitivity, critical reflection, and understanding.