Sociology Seminar Series: Isak Ladegaard (Hong Kong University)

"Platforms Against the State" The administrative capabilities of digital platforms—such as large-scale recruitment, taxation, and mass communication—enable the creation of shadowy socio-economic domains that operate beyond state control. I present evidence from two cases: the development and distribution of anti-censorship software in China, and the construction of a far-right economy in the United States. These two cases are normatively distinct but similar in that they have survived regulatory crackdowns and remain potent forces of social change that complicate late-modern state power. Isak Ladegaard is a sociologist and criminologist who combines qualitative and computational research methods. His work has appeared in journals such as Social Problems, Social Forces, British Journal of Criminology, and Socio-Economic Review. His first book, Open Secrecy: How Technology Empowers the Digital Underground, is published by the University of California Press. Before returning to the University of Hong Kong, his undergraduate alma mater, he spent four years on the tenure track at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a year and a half as a lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, and six years at Boston College, where he obtained his Ph.D. He was born in Oslo.

When 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm on 12 November 2025
Building SOC 241, 96 Cummington Mall