Special Guest Talk: Terry Flew (The University of Sydney)

Events

On April 13 from 11:30, we are delighted to welcome Terry Flew, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and Professor at The University of Sydney, for a guest talk at our department.

Terry Flew
We are pleased to announce an upcoming talk by Professor Terry Flew (University of Sydney) on The Horizon of Social Cohesion: Trust, Social Communication and the Legitimacy of Difference, scheduled for Monday, April 13 from 11:30 at Seminar Room 4 in the Department's building Währinger Straße 29.

  • About the talk

    In this talk I wish to explore three questions. The first is what we mean by "social cohesion" and why it is a state of affairs that is valued in economic, political and social terms. In particular, I want to probe the extent to which it is a coherent concept to which social researchers can contribute, or whether it has become something of a "flag of convenience" for a range of otherwise disparate claims, often being made by those who actually don't see it as a useful or desirable concept. Second, I want to reflect on the recent passing of the German philosopher and communications theorist Jϋrgen Habermas and discuss whether he could be considered a theorist of social cohesion, and whether this formed a component of critique of his work. Finally, I will make some observations about the resurgence of right-wing populism in Australia and some of the similarities and differences to experiences in Europe. In particular, the question has been re-opened as to whether forms of unity-in-diversity that we associate with social cohesion in multicultural societies are under strain, and what this means for questions of trust and social communication.

  • Terry Flew

    … is Professor of Digital Communication and Culture, Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow, and Co-Director of the Centre for AI, Trust and Governance at the University of Sydney. His books include Global Creative Industries (Polity, 2013), Media Economics (Palgrave, 2015), Understanding Global Media (Palgrave, 2018), Regulating Platforms (Polity, 2021), SAGE Handbook of the Digital Media Economy (SAGE, 2022), Digital Platform Regulation: Global Perspectives on Internet Governance (Springer, 2022), and Valuing News: Digital Platforms and Journalism Futures (Springer, 2026). He was President of the International Communication Association (ICA) from 2019 to 2020, and is an ICA Fellow, elected in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA). His Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship is a five-year study (2024-2028) of Mediated Trust: Ideas, Interests, Institutions, Futures.

  • Date & Location

    Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna
    Seminar Room 4
    April 13, 2026, 11:30 (CET)

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