Fear, Fiction, and Futures: Deconstructing AI Dystopias through Sociological Narrative Analysis

Abstract

This assignment guides students in analyzing dystopian AI narratives through a sociological lens. By combining media analysis with narrative deconstruction, students evaluate how cultural fears around artificial intelligence reflect broader social anxieties and structures of power, building critical media literacy and theoretical insight into the...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Science and Technology

Resource Type(s):

Assignment

Class Level(s):

Any Level, Graduate

Class Size(s):

Medium

Usage Notes

This assignment is best introduced midway through a course on the sociology of artificial intelligence, digital culture, science and technology studies, or media and society. It is designed to help students critically engage with the cultural narratives that frame AI development, particularly the recurring portrayal of AI as a looming existential...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Identify how science fiction, media, and expert discourse frame AI as a societal threat
2. Apply sociological theories (e.g., risk society, technological determinism, moral panic) to popular AI narratives
3. Analyze the function of fear-based storytelling in shaping public attitudes and political responses to AI
4. Reflect on how race, gender, and global inequality shape whose AI fears get prioritized

Goal Assessment(s):

1. To evaluate student learning and analytical writing in this assignment, instructors may use a structured rubric. The rubric is designed to assess students’ ability to apply sociological theory, critically analyze media representations of AI, and deconstruct dominant cultural narratives about technological fear and control. This assignment also supports...