Digital platforms are where we live out much of our lives, including our politics. But are the digital platforms we have today, and the business models that drive them, good for political life? And even if they are good for some dimensions of politics, for example mobilization, do they work as well for building solidarity and for forming long-term campaigns of progressive political change?
What weight should we give to the fears of polarization online versus the more positive potentials of the digital? And differences of scale matter here between urban politics and the national or global? Finally, if we do have concerns about our current digital platforms, how do we build better ones? Who should do this, and what sorts of resource will they need? Our speakers who have all written books highly relevant to these topics will address and debate these urgent questions.
Meet our speakers and chair
Myria Georgiou (@MyriaGeorgiou4) is Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and co-author of The Digital border: Migration, technology, power. Professor Georgiou researches and teaches on migration and urbanisation in the context of intensified mediation.
Miranda Hall (@Miranda__Lena), Nanny Solidarity Network (NSN), is a play worker and researcher focussed on strategies for building collective worker power in the care sector. She previously worked at the New Economics Foundation.
James Muldoon (@james_muldoon_) is Senior Lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter, Head of Digital Research at the Autonomy think tank and author of Platform Socialism.
Alison Winch is a Lecturer in Promotional Media at Goldsmiths, University of London. She researches intimacy, power and sexual politics in a branded media culture. Her books include The New Patriarchs of Digital Capitalism: Celebrity Tech Founders and Networks of Power (Routledge 2021), which is co-authored with Ben Little.
Nick Couldry (@couldrynick) is Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. As a sociologist of media and culture, he approaches media and communications from the perspective of the symbolic power that has been historically concentrated in media institutions. He is the co-author of The Costs of Connection.
More about this event
The event is hosted by the Department of Media Communications (@MediaLSE) and co-organised by Jeremy Gilbert (UEL). Jeremy Gilbert (@jemgilbert) is Professor of Cultural and Political Theory at the University of East London and author of 21st Century Socialism and co-author of Hegemony Now.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEMedia
Podcast & Video
A podcast of this event is available to download from Digital Platforms and the Future of Political Solidarity.
Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.