This talk will attempt to acknowledge the necessary omnipresence, and the protective function, of ideologies, while promoting ‘multi-perspectivist mental infrastructures’ as our best way to prevent the “conspirationism” and wars caused by ideologies.
It will address the following questions: what is an ideology, and why can’t we do without its protective function of shielding/screening? What is multi-perspectivism, and why do we need it democratically to confront socio-environmental degradations and threats at the local and global levels? What would we gain by approaching media as ‘mental infrastructures’? And finally: what type of multi-perspectivist media should we promote in order to reduce personal anxieties and foster collective responsibilities?
Yves Citton is professor in Literature and Media at the Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis, member of the Institut de France and co-editor of the journal Multitudes. He recently co-directed with Enrico Campo the volume Politics of Curiosity. Alternatives to the Attention Economy (Routledge, 2024), after having published Altermodernités des Lumières (Seuil, 2022), Faire avec. Conflits, coalitions, contagions (Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2021), Générations collapsonautes (Seuil, 2020, in collaboration with Jacopo Rasmi), Mediarchy (Polity Press, 2019), Contre-courants politiques (Fayard, 2018), The Ecology of Attention (Polity Press, 2016). An updated English translation of Mythocracy. How Stories Shape Our Worlds will be published by Verso Books in April 2025. His articles are in open access on his website www.yvescitton.net