Communication and Capital(ism) at FDV

From 28 to 30 August 2025, the Faculty of Social Sciences hosted the conference “Communication and Capital(ism),” where more than 60 researchers from Slovenia and abroad discussed the challenges faced by societies within digital capitalism. The conference was held under the auspices of the European Sociological Association’s research network for communication and media (Research Network 18, European Sociological Association) and was organized by our research center (Social Communication Research Center), the Slovenian Communication Association, and the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Members of the local organizing committee included CDK members Jernej Amon Prodnik, Neja Berger, Boris Mance, and Igor Vobič. Coordination of the conference and leadership of the local committee was taken on by Sašo Slaček, who ensured its smooth execution.

The topics presented by the authors across 14 panels at the conference encompassed an array of dilemmas arising from the rise of digital capitalism. Among them were the deepening of economic inequalities and their impact on social communication, the rise of right-wing authoritarianism that increasingly subordinates the media environment, and dilemmas related to the development of generative artificial intelligence and the ascent of digital technological giants. These are contradictory processes and shifts that will, in the future, profoundly transform—and perhaps even destabilize—social relations.

The conference also featured two open plenary lectures and a roundtable. Professor Kylie Jarrett focused on the characteristics of digital labor in her lecture, while CDK head Slavko Splichal addressed structural changes in the public sphere and the rise of the “gig public.” At the plenary roundtable on platform work—emerging as one of the potential employment models of the future—participants included Adele Ladkin, Kylie Jarrett, Jernej Kastelic, and Maja Breznik.

Na FDV potekala znanstvena konferenca Komuniciranje in kapital(izem)

Na Fakulteti za družbene vede je med 28. in 30. avgustom 2025 potekala konferenca Communication and Capital(ism), na kateri je več kot 60 raziskovalk in raziskovalcev iz Slovenije in tujine razpravljalo o izzivih, s katerimi se srečujejo družbe v okviru digitalnega kapitalizma. Konferenca je potekala v okviru raziskovalnega omrežja za komuniciranje in medije Evropskega sociološkega združenja (angl. Research Network 18, European sociological association), organizirali pa so jo Center za raziskovanje družbenega komuniciranja FDV, Slovensko komunikološko društvo in Fakulteta za družbene vede.

V lokalnem organizacijskem odboru konference so bili člani centra Jernej Amon Prodnik, Neja Berger, Boris Mance in Igor Vobič, koordiniranje konference in vodenje lokalnega odbora pa je prevzel Sašo Slaček, ki je skrbel za njeno brezhibno izvedbo.

Tematike, ki so jih avtorice in avtorji predstavljali v okviru 14 panelov na konferenci, so vključevale preplet dilem, ki jih sproža vzpon digitalnega kapitalizma. Med njimi so poglabljanje ekonomskih neenakosti in njihov vpliv na družbeno komuniciranje, vzpon desnega avtoritarizma, ki si v vedno večji meri podreja medijsko okolje, ter dileme, povezane z razvojem generativne umetne inteligence in vzponom digitalnih tehnoloških gigantov. Gre za protislovne procese in premike, ki bodo v prihodnosti globoko preobrazili in morda tudi destabilizirali družbene odnose. Na konferenci sta potekali tudi odprti plenarni predavanji in okrogla miza. Profesorica Kylie Jarrett se je v predavanju osredotočila na značilnosti digitalnega dela, predstojnik CDK Slavko Splichal pa je v predavanju obravnaval strukturne spremembe javnosti in vzpon “gig javnosti”. Na plenarni okrogli mizi o platformnem delu, ki se nakazuje kot eden izmed možnih modelov zaposlitev v prihodnosti, so sodelovali Adele Ladkin, Kylie Jarrett, Jernej Kastelic in Maja Breznik.