Seminar Abstract

We live in an era defined by polarisation- from the exacerbation of pre-existing inequalities to the pluralisation of divisions. The salience of social divisions along with declining trust in traditional elites and institutions have contributed to a rise of populist leaders who have capitalised on resentment. The global information landscape has blurred geographical and cultural boundaries, allowing for greater transnationalism of empathy, affinities, and intolerance, and allowing interaction between global and local discourse. However, social media has also facilitated mobilisation along identity lines, exacerbating the use of identity and beliefs as markers of difference and of vehicles of discrimination. Against this backdrop, societal distrust and polarisation are faultlines for malicious actors to exploit. Interference, influence, and cognitive operations (especially via digital technology and spaces) have become intrinsic to global competition and insidious facets of contemporary warfare.

The crisis of the social is a global one. Does this mark the decline of trust and social capital in societies? What does the pluralisation of identity lines- and hyperdiversity- mean for multicultural societies? How would the heightened competition for influence over the public affect the social compact?

Who Should Attend

Policy-makers, mid to senior-level officers and analysts, researchers, and academics involved in examining political unrest, social cohesion, online disinformation, and national security.

Speakers 

Identities and the Competition for Influence

Eviane Leidig, Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University

Kamalini Ramdas, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

Jiaqi M. Liu, University of California San Diego

Conspiracy and Populism in the Digital Age

Stephanie Alice Baker, School of Policy & Global Affairs Department of Sociology and Criminology, City University of London

Jefferson Lyndon D Ragragio,Department of Science Communication, University of the Philippines at Los Baños

Calvin Cheng, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

The Status of the Social

Miles Hewstone, University of Oxford

Daniel PS Goh, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore

Dominik A. Stecuła, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University