RSA Conversations
207 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 days ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratingsThe latest thinking from the world’s leading voices on topics ranging from education, design and creativity, to politics, philosophy and economics. Fresh ideas for better futures from the RSA.
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Episodes
Anger, with Claire Fox
August 24, 2018 03:50 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBAnger is all the rage, but is anger itself the problem? Some people say we need to push back against anger in our politics, and respond with tranquil civility. But what if anger is the only rational response to a crisis in our democracy, and crumbling political norms? Claire Fox, director of the Academy of Ideas and author of 'I Find That Offensive!', joins Matthew Taylor and Ian Leslie to discuss anger, snowflakes, and inevitably, Brexit. Links Martha Nussbaum's piece, 'Powerlessness and...
The Media and Echo Chambers
July 25, 2018 14:15 - 26 minutes - 24.7 MBIs it really true that we all live in our own echo chambers? Fake news and the filter bubble, post-truth and alternative facts… Are we all, as President Obama put it, ‘absorbing an entirely different reality’? In this episode we’re asking: Is our sense of a shared reality becoming even more fragile? And is fragmentation of the media the cause – or just the symptom – of our polarised politics? With guest Sílvia Majó-Vázquez, Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalis...
Inequality and Generation Wealth, with Faiza Shaheen & Lauren Greenfield
June 27, 2018 22:25 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBAre economic divides to blame for everything else that’s broken in our politics? Does 'economic anxiety' explain the Trump and Brexit votes? And what deeper cultural undercurrents are at play in unequal societies? Ian and Matthew speak to Faiza Shaheen, director of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) about inequalities in the UK and the US. And Matthew interviews the Emmy-winning director and photographer Lauren Greenfield, whose new documentary 'Generation Wealth' (out in the ...
How Internet Culture Poisoned Politics, with Whitney Phillips
June 20, 2018 11:00 - 28 minutes - 26.6 MBIs it inevitable that the internet and social media drive us to the extremes? Or do they just hold up a mirror to an already divided culture? And we explore the dark side of the internet – trolls, racist memes, hate-filled comment sections and increasingly virulent culture wars – and ask whether it hijacked the White House. Guest Whitney Phillips, Assistant Professor of Communication, Culture, and Digital Technologies at Syracuse University, and author of ‘This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Th...
Silicon Valley's Persuasion Machine
June 12, 2018 05:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBBy now, lots of us have heard at least part of the story of the Facebook election scandal. Cambridge Analytica, the company in the eye of the storm, has closed its doors and is under investigation. But how effective were its methods? Can ‘psychographic microtargeting’ really swing elections and referendums? And is it already driving a wedge in our politics? Guests Chris Sumner, research director of the Online Privacy Foundation Martin Moore, director of the Centre for the Study of Media, ...
Liberals and Authoritarians
May 17, 2018 23:01 - 30 minutes - 31 MBCommentators have written at great length about left vs right, the young vs the old, ‘somewheres’ vs ‘anywheres’. But what if there’s one big divide they’re missing? Are we now a nation of liberals vs authoritarians? Divides in politics are nothing new – but are they deepening? And does the old left/right split still apply, or are there newer, different splits in British politics? The political sociologist Paula Surridge from the University of Bristol joins the RSA’s Matthew Taylor and the...
Trailer
May 11, 2018 11:00 - 2 minutes - 2.63 MBPolarisation is the buzzword of the moment. In a new series, the RSA's Matthew Taylor and the author of 'Born Liars' and 'Curious', Ian Leslie, investigate the forces driving us further apart – and what can be done about them.