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KL 01
Media and Civic Cultures inWestern 'Late Democracy': the NewSubjectivity and Sociality
Peter Dahlgren
1
1
Lund University, Sweden
Democracy in the West has passed through a number of historical transformations since its emergence two centuries ago. Democracy today is entering a
new period of profound change, one that we might call 'late democracy'. It is characterized by more and newer forms of engagement, as well as increasing
problems of governance. It is driven by an array of major factors - political, economic, social - but I suggest that the contemporary landscape of the Web/
social media is also a major player. In particular, the media are serving to foster new modes of subjectivity and sociality, which in turn impact on the char‑
acter of civic cultures and the participation that they can facilitate.
The enhanced involvement of citizens is seen, if not in decision-making, at least in public sphere access and activity. Traditional 'filtering' functions of elites
are in decline, allowing more space for more civic voices, in more communicative registers. Late democracy is also increasingly torn by the unaccountable
neoliberal power and other dilemmas. The amplified character of public voices, not least online, make increasingly visible the failures, indifference and
corruption of political and economic elites. This can result in cynicism and apathy but also in rage and mobilization.
The Web/social media have certainly been essential for much participation, but also have less laudable sides. In this digital enclosure, the logics of their
political economy and technical design, the cultural patterns of the habitus they engender, and the uses to which they are put, are changing the character
of self-perception and strategies of social interaction. Privatization, commodification, and narcissism; populist, uncivil, and even baleful discourses; mistrust
of elites, experts, other citizens, and media sources - are not per se new, but have been massively amplified by the media. It is at these points of tensions
that we find important areas of research.
KL 02
Beyond ColdWar thinking: The Past, Present and Future of European Communication
Sabina Mihelj
1
1
Loughborough University, UK
Over the past twenty-five years, research on media and communication in communist and post-communist Eastern Europe has advanced considerably. As
this lecture will show, historical studies have challenged entrenched perceptions of communist media as mere puppets in the hands of the party-state, and
revealed intriguing similarities with media trajectories in liberal democratic countries. At the same time, the analysis of post-communist media transfor‑
mations also developed apace, and expanded its scope from the initial concern with media regulation and political communication to issues of popular
media and audience engagement. Thanks to this body of work, European communication scholars are now in a much better position to grasp the dynamics
of pan-European and global media landscapes than they were a quarter of a century ago. Yet for all the efforts, little of this research has so far had a de‑
cisive impact on mainstream debates in communication and media studies. It is still common to encounter books, articles and projects that purport to be
European or global in scope yet hardly include any material from the region; and by and large, the division of labor in the discipline continues to reserve
theory development for western and especially Anglo-American scholars, while relegating others to empirical testing and application. The last part of this
lecture will investigate reasons that perpetuate the long-standing imbalances in European communication research, and consider possible ways of making
the field more genuinely pan-European.
Keynote Abstracts
Wednesday, November 9
1 8 : 0 0 – 2 0 : 0 0