In this article, we analyze the role of conspiracy theories, especially the spread of QAnon during the COVID-19 pandemics, in the legitimation crisis and epistemic crisis in contemporary democracies. We discuss Habermas’ theory of legitimation crisis and the potential for reactionary movements in times of such crisis, as well as Hofstadter’s description of the paranoid style in political culture. We explain the notion of ‘epistemic crisis’ as theorized by Larry Laudan and discussed recently in relation to social media. We discuss anti-intellectualism in Hofstadter’s terms, and explain its connection with populism. Finally, we explain how all of this comes to bear on the contemporary proliferation of conspiracy theory, using QAnon and the COVID crisis as our point of reference, and examples from the United States and Brazil to illustrate our points. QAnon fueled COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and COVID-19 conspiracy theories rocketed QAnon to a place of major influence.

Books and journals, open access & print www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk Welcome to the latest catalogue of the University of Westminster Press, an academic open access publisher since 2015. Our logo, an open laptop and an open book forming a W, was intended as a succinct comment and a visual representation of our mission. For UWP the most signficant development in the last year has been the addition of three new journal titles: the first, Anthropocenes -Human, Inhuman, Posthuman (p.34) an interdisciplinary title of great range tackling some of the big questions of our age including climate change, species extinction and latterly Covid-19. Likewise we are delighted to welcome the Journal of Deliberative Democracy (p.32). As populism surges across the world, the need for democratic legitimacy and real engagement continues to grow. JDD's August 2020 relaunch with UWP highlights key debates in participative democracy and public deliberation and considers how new insights might assist politics grapple with mounting challenges. We also look forward, later in the year to the first issue of Active Travel Studies (p.31). Healthier and more environmentally conscious transport is the focus of the journal's parent research body, the Active Travel Academy at the University of Westminster. Also during this period two of our existing journals Silk Road (p.36) and Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (p.38) are now presented in a new research environment that of ScienceOpen. We welcome ScienceOpen and other new channels assisting readers in discovering our publications. UWP book titles remain available via JSTOR (www.jstor.org) and OAPEN (www.oapen.org), as MARC-21 records for libraries are also now available to download from our home page. Book trade orders and customers can also be set up via an account with Ingrams at www.ingramcontent.com/publishers/lp/introducingipage. This 2020 catalogue features three forthcoming books in the Critical Digital and Social Media Studies series (pp.4-17) -two focusing on the 'Commons' -in Autumn on top of a total of 30 published book titles, 7 CAMRI Policy Briefs (pp.21-23] and the distributed titles in the the History of the 'University of Westminster' series. One undoubted highlight in 2020 will be Can Music Make You Sick? (p. 18) Sadly the answer to this question appears to be 'yes' for musicians, whose mental health is facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the gig economy, streaming and currently a cessation of the festival season and most live events. Spreadheading a new wave of publications challenging some of the benign assumptions of previous creative industries literature, this title is sure to contribute to an urgent debate in the field. So we hope there's plenty to engage you in the following pages!.

This book explores how the Internet is connected to the global crisis of liberal democracy. Today, self-promotion is at the heart of many human relationships. The selfie is not just a social media gesture people love to hate. It is also a symbol of social reality in the age of the Internet. Through social media people have new ways of rating and judging themselves and one another, via metrics such as likes, shares, followers and friends. There are new thirsts for authenticity, outlets for verbal aggression, and social problems. Social media culture and neoliberalism dovetail and amplify one another, feeding social estrangement. With neoliberalism, psychosocial wounds are agitated and authoritarianism is provoked. Yet this new sociality also inspires resistance and political mobilisation. Illustrating ideas and trends with examples from news and popular culture, the book outlines and applies theories from Debord, Foucault, Fromm, Goffman, and Giddens, among others. Topics covered include the global history of communication technologies, personal branding, echo chamber effects, alienation and fear of abnormality. Information technologies provide channels for public engagement where extreme ideas reach farther and faster than ever before, and political differences are widened and inflamed. They also provide new opportunities for protest and resistance.

Entrevista com Michel Onfray coordenada por Felipe Ziotti Narita (Unesp). Onfray, filósofo francês, é autor de inúmeras obras sobre filosofia,política etc. Fundador, em um projeto coletivo, da Universidade Popular de Caen em 2002, na França, tendo participado também da fundação da Universidade Popular do Gosto em Argentan (2006).Entretien avec Michel Onfray dirigé par Felipe Ziotti Narita (Université de l'État de São Paulo - Unesp). Onfray, philosophe français, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages sur philosophie, politique, etc. Il a crée, dans un projet collectif, l’Université Populaire de Caen en 2002. Il a participé aussi à la création de l’Université Populaire du goût à Argentan en 2006. Dans cet entretien, Onfray revient sur l’expérience à la fois théorique et pratique de la formation de l’Université populaire.

The rise of populism and its authoritarian variations over the last decade has not been confined to the West. Recent academic literature/debate on populism 1 points out that the global populist surge constitutes a diffuse set of political and economic categories (rhetoric, style, identity, etc.) that can also be perceived at the margins of the West in countries like Hungary, South Korea,

RESUMO:Este artigo discute proposições e possibilidades de entendimento da educação popular a partir de formulações teóricas do campo das ciências sociais. Tratase de situar a discussão da educação popular no conjunto mais amplo de problemas lançados pelas ciências sociais, analisando as práticas educativas à luz de processos sociopolíticos, sobretudo, a partir de referenciais sociológicos e históricos (democratização política, cidadania, modernização). Por meio da exposição e da discussão de alguns dos conceitos e abordagens que vinculam a educação popular a temas mais amplos das ciências sociais, o texto argumenta que o entendimento da educação popular, para além das discussões curriculares e de conteúdo, deve ser teoricamente inserido na investigação dos próprios impasses sociais, políticos e econômicos que acompanham a América Latina nas últimas cinco décadas.Palavras-chave: Educação popular; Modernização; Democracia; Ciências Sociais; Políticas públicas.ABSTRACT: This paper discusses propositions and possibilities of understanding popular education in dialogue with theoretical formulations from social sciences. This topic suggests a constelation of problems and concepts in order do think a close association between educational practices and themes dealing with historical and sociological references (democratization, citizenship, modernization). The paper argues that popular education must be situated in theoretical terms in the very core of the social and political impasses throughtout the last 50 years in Latin America.

O texto desenvolve um painel conceitual da modernidade, entendida como uma consciência histórica que articula promessas e discursos de emancipação (progresso, razão, etc.) tensionados em sua efetivação. Revisito algumas chaves teóricas a fim de articular a teoria social às linhas de força que constituem parâmetros capazes de balizar temas como a razão instrumental, a crítica, a autonomização das relações de mercado, o novo e a técnica. A modernidade não é apenas uma descrição da estrutura social, mas uma atitude em relação aos valores e aos ritmos históricos de transformação. Ao instituir um terreno normativo em que os valores são legitimados e tensionadas pela experiência histórica, soçobram os impasses de um projeto inacabado que permanece no horizonte da crise contemporânea. Abstract: This paper offers a conceptual framework that deals with modernity, conceived as a historical consciousness that comprises discourses of emancipation (progress, reason, etc.) that are tensioned in their effort at actualization. The paper discusses the main approaches of social theory with themes like instrumental reason, critique, the autonomization of market relations, the new and technique. Modernity is not only a description of the social structure, but rather it is embedded in an attitude regarding values and the historical pace of transformations. With the institution of a normative terrain where values are legitimated and tensioned in light of the historical experience, the impasses of an unfinished project remain on the horizon of the contemporary crisis. Keywords: Modernity. Critique. Crisis. Transition. Social change.

This chapter discusses the nexus between digital networks and neoliberal transformations since the 1980s. We describe how on social media, people orient around a variety of metrics in order to build and display their ‘human capital’, projecting their preferred electronic doubles of themselves in order to gain desired recognition from others, and in many cases to network and showcase a ‘professional’ identity directly in the interests of career advancement. We discuss this in light of a theory of ‘neoliberal impression management’, which we introduce in reference to the ideas of Erich Fromm, Erving Goffman, and Michel Foucault. In our theory of neoliberal impression management, a person forges a spectacular self through which their actions and interactions are displayed in ‘public’ view. In doing this, they also amass publicly viewable metrics (likes, shares, followers, etc.) that suggest an ‘objective’ value. This cultural development moves toward self-centeredness, narcissism, and attention-seeking, and away from genuine concern for others and connection with them. This feeds the potential for numbness to – if not outright acceptance of – political cruelty and injustice.