Lectures@LSE

Two great lectures at the London School of Economics were also opportunities to chat with Jon, who's an LSE alumnus.

Global Media System, Public Knowledge and Democracy
Speaker: Professor James Curran, Media Research Programme Director, Goldsmiths, University of London
Click here for the podcast (20 mb; approx 86 minutes)

A four-country study showed interest in current affairs to be the single most important correlate of knowledge, with gender and education as strong predictors. However, as Curran argues, the "tectonic shift in organisation" of the media--privatisation, de-regulation, market liberalisation, and the decline of public broadcasters--are turning audiences from citizens into consumers, with worrying consequences, as showed by findings in the US. Americans know less in general about public affairs than the British, Finns and Danes. Finland and Denmark have dominant public broadcasters, Americans mainly private, while the British are in between. My theory is that there is less to do in Finland and Denmark, hence they watch more TV. Care to rebutt that? ;)

But really, there could be a lot of reasons for the differences, including the multicultural society of the US. This points to possible problems in access and differences in the culture of watching and reading the news.

Sonia Livingstone chaired the lecture.

Migration and Social Transformation
Speaker: Professor Stephen Castles, Co-Director of the International Migration Institute and Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies at the University of Oxford
Click here for the podcast (22 mb; approx 95 minutes)

Castles very ably took us through key issues in migration studies, talking about the ambivalence about the growth of migration studies and stressing the need for caution. The failure of migration policy and the reinforcement of 'methodological nationalism' in the social sciences are reasons for pessimism. However, once migration is acknowledged as both the result and cause of social change, we can begin to see that globalisation transforms the conditions for migration and then dismiss 'conventional wisdoms'.

We managed to have a word with the professor at the reception after the lecture. He identified us as Filipinos because we were cracking up (couldn't help it) when he mentioned the Philippines as being an interesting case, because Marcos started migration to fight change, not develop the country.

One point he mentioned about the Philippines is the structural dependency on migration. For us, it's normal to go abroad. So true. And the situation replicates itself. While mobility and the freedom to seek better conditions are human rights, there are flaws in the system. No space here to discuss this but you get the picture.

The lecture marked the inauguration of LSE's Migration Studies Unit. It was unfortunate that David Held, who was scheduled to chair the lecture, was ill and couldn't make it. Held is one of the key figures in globalisation studies.

About the photos
These are buildings near the LSE. Big structures, bigatin figures in the academe. Hahaha!