CULTURE, THE DIGITAL INFLUENCE OF GLOBAL MEDIA, & EFFECTS ON GLOBAL SOCIAL ORDER

Date: September 27, 2017 - Wednesday

Time: 13:30-15:00

Venue:  R606, Run Run Shaw Library, Hongkou Campus

Language: English

Summary:

This public lecture will focus on recent research regarding trust and influence manifests itself across cultures, particularly in how the factor structure of institutional trust is different than its structure in East Asia in general and China in particular, as a function of both enduring cultural values (like hierarchical relationalism) and current power structure. It will also consider how mass media represents various cultures' sense of cultural memory and can be understood or used to enhance a sense of national identity and/or global consciousness. It will also examine how conspiracy theory and social media may undermine these. Specifically with a view toward global governance and creating a more equitable global social order, the lecture addresses perspectives on how systems like liberal democracy and hierarchical relationalism function, and considers Chinese perspectives on this.

Speaker Biography:

James Hou-fu Liu is Professor of Psychology and Head of School at Massey University in New Zealand. He completed a PhD at UCLA, followed by a post-doc at Florida Atlantic University. He taught at Victoria University of Wellington for twenty years, becoming Co-Director of its Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research (2010-2014). His research is in cross-cultural, social, and political psychology, specializing in social representations of history and their relationship to identity, prejudice, and international relations. He has more recent interests in cultural memory, global consciousness and digital influence, and how systems like liberal democracy and hierarchical relationalism function to create global social order.