About the network
Main content
The Network for Studies of Culture, Inequality and Democracy is an interdisciplinary network based in the media studies environment at the Department of Information and Media Studies at the University of Bergen.
The network is managed by Jan Fredrik Hovden and Torgeir Uberg Nærland, who also lead the projects Media Poverty (NFR, Nærland). The network includes researchers, as well as PhD and master's students.
The network is a forum for the development of research work on cultural use and the cultural field, with a focus on social inequality and democracy. The research is inspired by general cultural sociology, class research and British cultural studies in combination with a public and democratic perspective.
A core question for the network is generally what role culture plays in politics and social life, and more specifically how social inequality in culture and media use conditions people's life chances and opportunities for active citizenship. The network has a particular focus on issues related to social inequality and cultural policy, on cultural journalism, public broadcasting, as well as vulnerable social groups (among other things, citizens at risk of poverty and irregular migrants).
Several of the group's members are active in forums relevant to cultural politics. Jan Fredrik Hovden sits on the Norwegian Cultural Council, and heads the Norwegian Cultural Council's research committee. John Magnus Dahl is a member of the Culture Council's Committee for periodicals and criticism. Torgeir Uberg Nærland is a former deputy chairman of the Broadcasting Council and is a member of the Music Committee, which creates the NOU on the Norwegian music field.