Admission requirements
None.
Description
Technologies are deeply embedded in contemporary social life, shaping how people learn, work, communicate, socialise, organise collectively, and make sense of themselves and the world around them. Everyday practices - from following the news and exchanging messages with loved ones to shopping online, streaming entertainment, or travelling across the world - are increasingly mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. These arrangements influence how information is filtered and prioritised, how social relationships are initiated and sustained, and how choices are suggested, automated, or constrained. In this sense, technologies do not merely facilitate social practices: they actively participate in shaping them.
Within this broader societal context, technological change generates both new opportunities and new risks. Online platforms, for example, can foster collective action and public participation by lowering barriers to coordination and visibility, while simultaneously enabling manipulation, surveillance, and the circulation of harmful content. Likewise, automated decision-making tools promise greater efficiency and consistency in areas such as employment, policing, and public administration, yet they also risk reinforcing bias, opacity, and social exclusion.
Law plays a central role in addressing these tensions. Legal rules and policy frameworks do not only respond to technological developments but also shape how technologies are developed and used. By embedding societal values, interests, and principles - alongside rights- and risk-based approaches, into technical arrangements, law influences the social consequences of innovation, for instance through requirements related to autonomy, fairness, and transparency. At the same time, emerging technologies challenge existing legal categories and normative assumptions, nudging processes of legal adaptation, reinterpretation, and contestation. The governance of technology therefore reflects an ongoing and dynamic interaction in which technology, society, and law continuously co-constitute one another.
Against this background, the course first introduces students to key social sciences and humanities (SSH) theories on technology and society, offering different perspectives on how technological change intersects with social structures, values, and power relations. It then examines competing approaches to the regulation and governance of technology, including ethical, risk-based, and rights-oriented frameworks. Building on this theoretical foundation, the course applies these perspectives to concrete case studies in order to analyse how societal challenges arise, how regulatory responses are formulated and justified, and how law mediates the relationship between technological innovation and broader social dynamics.
Course objectives
By the end of this course; students will be able to:·
Understand key social sciences and humanities (SSH) theories on technology and society.
Critically analyse the social, ethical, and legal implications of technological developments.
Evaluate ethical, risk-based, and rights-oriented approaches to the regulation of emerging technologies.
Apply these regulatory and ethical frameworks to the analysis of specific case studies.
Demonstrate intellectual curiosity and develop forward-looking, critical thinking about technology, society, and law.
Timetable
Check MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Number of (2 hour) lectures: 10
Names of lecturers: Dr C. Rigotti, with the possibility of guest lecturers
Required preparation by students: Reading the required materials on Brightspace
Interactive lectures for which registration is required (in MyStudymap/Usis all interactive lectures are mentioned as working groups).
Attendance on all the dates is not mandatory but each session contains essential information to help you prepare for the final exam
Assessment method
Examination form(s)
- Written examination with open questions
Areas to be tested within the exam
The examination syllabus consists of the required reading (literature) for the course; the course information guide and the subjects taught in the video lectures/the interactive seminars and all other instructions which are part of the course.
Resit
Written exam with open questions
Regulation retake passed exams
In this course it is possible to retake an exam that has been passed (cf. art. 4.1.8 and further of the Course and Examination Regulations) on the condition that this course is not part of the minor. Students who have passed the exam may retake the final written assessment (test) of the course if they meet certain requirements. For more information, go to the website > ‘Law’ tab > ‘Retake a passed exam’.
Review & feedback
- The method and time of the review session will be announced no later than when the exam results are announced. Review will always take place before the resit.
Reading list
Obligatory and recommended course materials are available on Brightspace in module-by-module folders
Registration
Registration for courses and exams takes place via MyStudymap. If you do not have access to MyStudymap (guest students), look here (under the Law-tab) for more information on the registration procedure in your situation.
Contact
Coordinator: Dr C. Rigotti
Work address: KOG
E-mail: c.rigotti@law.leidenuniv.nl
Institution/division
Institute: Meta Juridica
Department: eLaw, Center for Law and Digital Technologies
E-mail: elaw@law.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
Minor students have priority to follow the course, but they are responsible for the registration in MyStudymap/uSis. If minor students do not register on time, this priority will lapse.