Conference

Conference

Social Media and Democracy: Assessing the State of the Field and Identifying Unexplored Questions

The 2016 American elections intensified popular as well as scholarly interest in the relationship between media and democracy on topics like fake news, information bubbles, and algorithmic propaganda. “Social Media and Democracy: Assessing the State of the Field and Identifying Unexplored Questions” was the Media & Democracy program’s inaugural event. It convened researchers as part of a two-day conference to assess the current literature on social media and democracy, and  set a research agenda for the field moving forward. Conference chairs: Nate Persily, James B. McClatchy Professor of Law, Stanford University Diana Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science …

Conference

Confronting Algorithms of Oppression

Safiya Umoja Noble, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California, gave a public talk on her new book, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, on Monday, May 14th at the Roosevelt House at Hunter College. Algorithms of Oppression contests the idea that search engines are unbiased marketplaces of ideas. Rather, Noble argues that search engines reflect the underlying power structures of the societies in which they are built, and often weaken the voices of historically underrepresented groups. Following Prof. Noble’s talk, Meredith Broussard, Assistant Professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, New York University and author of Artificial …

Conference

The Consequences of Misinformation

The spread and correction of false information has historical roots in sensationalist journalism, political disagreement, foreign espionage, state, religious or ethnic propaganda, and partisan debates: a collection of approaches far richer than suggested by the phrase “fake news.” “The Consequences of Misinformation” was a symposium on the history, circulation, and management of misinformation (untruths circulated without the intention to deceive) and disinformation (untruths intended to deceive). The symposium was informed by social scientific and journalistic perspectives on the most effective means of understanding and countering false information, even as it explores the challenges in doing so. The panelists spoke to …

Conference

2016 Democracy Seminar with Professor Charles Taylor

As part of his residency with us in 2016, Professor Charles Taylor, the Anxieties of Democracy program’s second Democracy Fellow, led a two-part Seminar on current ‘anxieties of democracy’. Twelve doctoral students, from diverse disciplines and universities, competed for a spot at the table. This year, The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman was also in attendance, and featured Taylor’s Democracy Seminar and its participants in his widely-circulated piece, ‘How to Restore Your Faith in Democracy.’ Charles Taylor is Emeritus Professor at McGill University and the recipient of the prestigious Berggruen, John W. Kluge, Templeton, and Kyoto prizes, among other honors. Regarded as one of the world’s most prominent political …

Conference

‘Democratic Exclusion: A Think-In in Three Acts,’ featuring Charles Taylor

*Update: Although Professor Taylor was unable to join us for this event due to illness, our explorations were carried out, with his blessing. Please enjoy the livestream below. The Anxieties of Democracy program is delighted to invite you to its second public 2016  “Democracy in the City” event, at Civic Hall: on Friday, October 21, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. Please join us for “Democratic Exclusion: A Think-In in Three Acts,” featuring world-renowned political philosopher Charles Taylor in conversation with civic leaders Keesha Gaskins-Nathan, Sarah Leonard, and Tova Wang. Orchestral music conducted by Benjamin Hochman invites further reflection on the theme. Event Live Stream The program:  Democracy, at its roots, means “the power of the …

Conference

Identity, Community, and Political Participation

Identity, Community, and Political Participation  was a two-day research design workshop that took place at Social Science Research Council headquarters in Brooklyn, New York on February 7 and 8, 2019. The workshop convened primarily younger scholars to develop in-progress or planned research projects on how political participation is fundamentally shaped by individual identity and/or community membership (and vice versa). The workshop was organized from an open call for proposals from the Anxieties of Democracy program’s Identity, Community, and Participation working group, whose members provided feedback and commentary on research design presentations. Working group member Adam Seth Levine also presented on how to build …

Conference

“Democracy at a Crossroads” co-sponsored conference

The SSRC proudly co-sponsored the “Democracy at a Crossroads” conference, held in Mexico City, Mexico on October 30-31, 2018. The event was hosted by the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) with support from the SSRC’s Anxieties of Democracy program, Columbia University, and Universidad de Guadalaraja. The conference brought together scholars from Latin America, the United States, and Europe, to discuss popular legitimacy, drugs and security, inequality, populism, and neoliberalism, among other topics.

Conference

2018 Democratic Erosion Conference

To mark the conclusion of the first year of Democratic Erosion, a cross-institutional collaborative course, a student conference was held at the Watson Institute at Brown University on August 29, 2018. Students at institutions participating in the Democratic Erosion consortium at the time were invited to apply to attend. The conference featured faculty-led seminars on syllabus materials, research presentations from Bright Line Watch and Texas A&M/USAID, breakout sessions and presentations where students generated research designs for projects about democratic erosion, and a debate about contentious issues related to democracy. Meghan Kallman delivered a keynote address on civic engagement. Democratic Erosion is a cross-institutional collaborative course …

Conference

Distribution Conference

On February 9th, 2018, the Anxieties of Democracy program’s working group on distribution convened at Yale University. The conference brought our working group members together to explore how changes in the structure of the global economy affect the viability of long settled features of distribution. The conference was organized by the working group’s co-chairs: Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science at Yale University, and Margaret Weir, Wilson Professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science at Brown University. The conference was generously supported by Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies. Conference participants …

Conference

Politics of Distribution Conference

On November 30th, 2018, the Anxieties of Democracy program’s working group on the Politics of Distribution will convene at Yale University for the presentation of book chapters. The book chapters will explore many topics, including: the roots of urban-rural sectionalism, perceptions of wealth inequality, and the spatial geography of wealth and precarity in the United States.

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