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European University Institute - Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

Schuman Shelf | L' Aplatissement du monde (The Flattening of the World)

In this Schuman Shelf, Professor Olivier Roy presents his latest book that tackles how the extension of individual freedom (political and sexual) since the Sixties led to a paradoxical extension of normative systems.

02 December 2022 | Video

Professor Olivier Roy observes that the current call for a systematic explicitation of what can and cannot be done is the consequence of a crisis of the 'implicit', that is of a supposedly shared culture. He explains that when there is no more a shared culture, everything has to be turned into an explicit code of how to speak and how to act. 

In this video, Roy exposes what the book is about, the motivation to write it and its key message:

"I wrote this book because I wanted to show that the increasing use of the concept of identity in politics, but both on the left and on the right, is a failed answer to a more general crisis of culture (...) We should work at restoring the social links at the grassroots level or at the level of citizenship, instead of building affinity communities on the virtual world of internet."

On 8 December 2022, the book launch event will take place in Villa Schifanoia (Florence). 

Register to attend the book presentation.

Check out the book at this link.

Go to the YouTube channel to watch more Schuman Shelfs.

Last update: 02 December 2022

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