In this webinar, Professor Anthony Giddens - the Arne Næss Professor at SUM in 2020-21 - will talk about the ways in which the combined challenges of digitalization, robotization and Covid-19 will influence political, economic and cultural landscape of modernity.
According to Giddens, the world's foremost expert on the studies of modernity, the Covid-19 pandemic is not just a re-run of previous epidemics. Giddens insists that we are living through what he calls the world’s first "digidemic": a reflection of the digital age which is radically transforming global health, politics, culture, and work-life.
This informal webinar is an preamble to the Arne Næss Symposium with Giddens in 2021.
Programme
The format of the webinar will be simple and informal, including three components:
- Nina Witoszek (Project leader of the Arne Næss Programme at SUM, Oslo University): Brief introduction
- Anthony Giddens: "Covid-19 and the Future World Order" (30 mins)
- Zarlush Zaid (Law graduate/ LSE and former intern of Professor Giddens): Comments (10 mins)
- Q & A (30 mins) Chair: Nina Witoszek.
Due to a potentially sizable audience, the discussion will be based on the listeners sending their questions via the chat function in Zoom.
The webinar will not be recorded.
Registration
Please register to receive the webinar's link. Registration closes Wednesday 16. Sept at 15.00.
Of the most prominent sociologists of our time
Professor Anthony Giddens - currently Life Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge and the member of the House of Lords - is one of the most prominent sociologists of our time.
He was Professor of sociology in the University of Cambridge until 1997, when he became Director of the London School of Economics (until 2004). He is the recipient of the Prince of Asturias Prize for the social sciences (2002) and holds 15 honorary degrees.
Anthony Giddens is the author and editor of 40 books (translated into over 40 different languages) – including such academic bestsellers as Sociology (8 editions since 1982), Capitalism and Modern Social Theory (1971), Modernity and Self-Identity (1991), Beyond Left and Right (1994), The Renewal of Social Democracy (1998), and The Politics of Climate Change (2011). His work inspired the so-called “third way” movement that aimed at the renewal of democracy in Europe.
Giddens’ most recent work ranges from studies of environmental challenges and climate change, to books on the role and nature of the European Union (See Turbulent and Mighty Continent: What Future for Europe? 2014). As a scholar who always follows – and codifies - the dominant Zeitgeist, he is also keenly interested in the impact of the ongoing digitalization and the AI revolution on human civilization. For the past several years Giddens has been working on the digital revolution and AI, which he believes to be the greatest transformative forces of our age.
Arne Næss Chair
Professor Giddens is the 2020-21 Arne Næss Professor.
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We draw on, and critically develop, the intellectual legacy after Norway’s greatest ecophilosopher, researcher and environmental activist.