About the Event
Isak Ladegaard, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong, will explore how digital platforms are reshaping power in his talk Platforms Against the State. Drawing on cases from China and the United States, Ladegaard shows how platforms use recruitment, taxation, and mass communication to build socio-economic domains that operate outside government control. His research highlights how anti-censorship software in China and far-right economies in the U.S. have survived regulation and continue to drive social change.
This is an in-person event that is part of the Nardone Family Seminar Series at the Center for Emerging Markets. Registration is required. Lunch will be provided.
About Isak Ladegaard
Isak Ladegaard is a sociologist and criminologist whose research combines qualitative and computational methods. His work has been published in journals such as Social Problems, Social Forces, British Journal of Criminology, and Socio-Economic Review. He is the author of Open Secrecy: How Technology Empowers the Digital Underground, published by the University of California Press.
Before returning to the University of Hong Kong, where he earned his undergraduate degree, Ladegaard held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Monash University in Melbourne. He also spent six years at Boston College, where he completed his Ph.D. Originally from Oslo, his career has spanned three continents, reflecting both his global perspective and his commitment to studying how technology transforms societies.
About the Nardone Family Seminar Series
Made possible by a gift from David R. Nardone, the Nardone Family Seminar Series at the Center for Emerging Markets brings academics and practitioners to Northeastern University to share insights about emerging markets with the Boston community.
The longtime series has hosted over 150 speakers since the Center for Emerging Markets' inception, thanks to Nardone's support. Speakers have discussed topics ranging from family business to climate resilience, fintech trends to medical innovation, corporate governance to international policy, and more. These speakers have similarly come to CEM from a diverse array of academic and professional backgrounds and have shared their knowledge on research, trends, and innovations touching nearly every continent.