Democracy and culture

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    Book Review: Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media by Sarah T. Roberts

Book Review: Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media by Sarah T. Roberts

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In Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media, Sarah T. Roberts explores the work conditions and experiences of people employed in ‘commercial content moderation’, drawing on interviews with those tasked with detecting and removing harmful and upsetting online content. As the problems faced by CCM workers reveal the economic, social and political distortions of the digital […]

December 8th, 2019|Book Reviews, Democracy and culture, H. Guney Akgul|0 Comments|
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    Book Review: The Costs of Connection: How Data is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism by Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias

Book Review: The Costs of Connection: How Data is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism by Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias

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In The Costs of Connection: How Data is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism, Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias argue that the quantified world is not a new frontier, but rather the continuation and expansion of both colonialism and capitalism. This book shines in using the theory underpinning the idea of data colonialism to articulate sites of resistance, […]

November 24th, 2019|Book Reviews, Democracy and culture, Laura Carter|0 Comments|
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Rethinking privacy in the age of psychological targeting

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Direct regulation of psychological targeting and privacy by design may lift from users the burden of actively protecting their privacy, write Sandra Matz, Ruth Elisabeth Appel and Michal Kosinski.

“Psychological targeting” is the practice of predicting people’s psychological profiles from their digital footprints (e.g. their Facebook profiles, transaction records or Google searches) in order to influence their attitudes, emotions or […]

November 23rd, 2019|Democracy and culture, Michal Kosinski, Ruth Elisabeth Appel, Sandra Matz|0 Comments|
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    Institutions are withstanding Trump, but it is America’s systemic problems which are the real threat to democracy.

Institutions are withstanding Trump, but it is America’s systemic problems which are the real threat to democracy.

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Since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, there has been growing concern among commentators over the apparent erosion of US institutions and democratic norms, with some drawing comparisons with interwar Europe and current day Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Turkey. But, write Hadas Aron and Emily Holland, the ongoing impeachment hearings and the robustness of the Supreme Court illustrate the […]

November 21st, 2019|Democracy and culture, Emily Holland, Hadas Aron|0 Comments|
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    Who has to ‘lean in’ for equal gender representation in leadership roles?

Who has to ‘lean in’ for equal gender representation in leadership roles?

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Individually, women have done enough; now senior leaders must fix the system, write Kara A. Arnold and Catherine Loughlin.

Even though women surpass men in university graduation rates and other skill-based gains, the Conference Board of Canada (2011) found it will take over 151 years for women and men to achieve parity in middle management, let alone senior leadership. Sheryl […]

November 16th, 2019|Catherine Loughlin, Democracy and culture, Kara A. Arnold|0 Comments|
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    Book Review: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

Book Review: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff

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In The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, Shoshana Zuboff offers a comprehensive account of the new form of economic oppression that has crept into our lives, challenging the boundless hype that has often surrounded the activities of modern technology companies. While the book presents a decent history of the rise […]

November 10th, 2019|Book Reviews, Democracy and culture|0 Comments|
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    Compared to young women, young men were more likely to support Trump and Brexit

Compared to young women, young men were more likely to support Trump and Brexit

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In new research, Rakib Ehsan found that Britain’s young Eurosceptics were more likely to be male when compared to their pro-Remain peers. He explores these emerging gender-based differences in political affiliation and vote choice, on both sides of the Atlantic. 

In recent times, the UK and the US have both experienced fundamental shocks to their democratic systems. In 2016, egg […]

November 6th, 2019|Democracy and culture, Rakib Ehsan|2 Comments|
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Book Review: Critique of Forms of Life by Rahel Jaeggi

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In Critique of Forms of Life, Rahel Jaeggi offers a timely intervention into debates surrounding pluralism and social change through questioning the possibility of criticism of ‘forms of life’: forms of human co-existence that include ensembles of practices and orientations, including their institutional manifestations. This is a fresh and insightful contribution to a critical theory of society that shows […]

November 3rd, 2019|Book Reviews, Democracy and culture|0 Comments|
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    The history of German Americans shows that even when facing discrimination, immigrants don’t give up trying to integrate.

The history of German Americans shows that even when facing discrimination, immigrants don’t give up trying to integrate.

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Immigrant groups often face discrimination in daily life across a wide variety of social, cultural and economic situations. In new research Vasiliki Fouka examines whether this discrimination is caused by a lack of integration or if integration itself is restricted by discrimination. Using the experience of German Americans during World War I, she finds that in the face of […]

November 1st, 2019|Democracy and culture, Vasiliki Fouka|0 Comments|
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    Book Review: This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev

Book Review: This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality by Peter Pomerantsev

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In This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, Peter Pomerantsev takes readers on a gripping journey through the disinformation age, drawing on his own family history as well as encounters with numerous figures positioned on both sides of the information spectrum: those working to manipulate our perceptions and those engaged in the struggle for a more facts-based public sphere. Ignas […]

October 27th, 2019|Book Reviews, Democracy and culture, Ignas Kalpokas|0 Comments|
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