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Talk us into it

Talk us into it Picture

The role of conversation in a changing society and public realm

Conversation has long been the cornerstone of our society. New technologies enable us to speak to people anytime, anywhere. However, there is growing concern – both in the UK and elsewhere - that we are talking less than we used to. This work suggests that this is a misconception and that the issue is actually much more complex.

Talk Us Into It

Posted by Samuel Jones at 10:16am on Tuesday, 19th September 2006
Our recent publication, Talk Us Into It, has been covered today in the Times.

The pamphlet argues that we need to put conversation  back into the public realm.  New technologies and communicaitons platforms have encouraged more and more people to 'have their say' and given more and more of us the chance to put forth our opinion, but is this at the expense of the face-to-face conversations that we need?

What we're looking to do in the future is think about how we can work with people to enable these conversations.  The pamphlet suggests some ways in which we can do this.  As we move on, though, it would be great to hear more thoughts.



Comments

1

Absolutely - I'm all in favour of people having their say. I think free speech is an essential foundation of democracy. But Demos doesn't appear to - or at least, your new director Madeleine Bunting doesn't. She seems to have a list of things that shouldn't be said, as they might offend people and cause them to kill nuns.

Is it possible to publish a new pamphlet, perhaps entitled "Shut up" which would have a list of things Demos has decided are unsayable?

Ta.

Posted by Frank Fisher  at 11:49am on Tuesday, 19th September 2006
2
No Frank, thank you. Your comment has generated a heated discussion around the Demos kitchen table. I reckon, and Simon may diagree, that we need to enrol Michel Foucault. Discourse, it seems to me, is the way of explaining the gap between what is allowable - legally - and what is sensible - as defined by politics. There are a lot of things in this world that it is just plain dumb to say, depending on who the sayer is and the political context in which they are saying it. The range of these things is often described by critics of the politics as political correctness (gone mad or otherwise). Much of politics and policy is played out in the shape of conversation - what things are talked about, what things are played down and what things are given emphasis. It seems to me that this is a rather good thing, and allows us to go places.
Posted by Jack Stilgoe  at 1:35pm on Wednesday, 20th September 2006
3
Yes. Very interesting. (It is, a bit, but your starting condition, that politics defines what is sensible to say makes no sense) Now, to the point, it's Thursday, so who is your director?
Posted by Frank Fisher  at 11:05am on Thursday, 19th October 2006

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