Understanding inequality and change through language: “Language constructs people and place — that’s where power lives”

Understanding inequality and change through language: "Language constructs people and place - that's where power lives"

When South Africa transitioned to democracy in the mid-1990s, Kevin Durrheim was completing his PhD in social psychology, where social identity theory was influential at the time. We applied this theory of group psychology, which originated in Europe, to understanding processes of change in South Africa."

Nelson Mandela had just been released from prison, the first free elections were underway, and a deeply segregated society faced the challenge of reimagining itself. "It was a time of massive transformation - from a kind of fascist regime to democracy," Durrheim says. He became fascinated by intergroup processes, social change, and how to produce an equitable, fair and peaceful society.

His early research examined intergroup contact - how people from separated communities can learn to live together. The theory, developed during the U.S. civil rights movement, suggests that personal contact reduces prejudice. But in South Africa integration happened mostly among elites.

Democracy, Durrheim says, sadly became a missed opportunity in South Africa. "Contact isn't just about sitting at the same table. It's also a spatial and structural process," he explains.

His research showed that contact in South Africa often occurred within spaces of privilege, leaving structural inequalities intact. Those who could migrate into sites of privilege experienced integration, but many black people were left behind-in poverty, landlessness, joblessness, ill health. "Rather than investing in uplifting historically marginalized places, capital went into building new sites of privilege. Inequalities remained intact, white privilege persisted, and a new elite emerged."

From intergroup contact to public opinion

Over time, Durrheim's focus shifted from contact between groups to the language that shapes collective life. "I'm primarily interested in language and in public opinion and the language of opinions. From my early work I learned that language constructs people and place-victimhood, sacred group space, nation. It all happens in language."

Today Durrheim's work connects social psychology with computational linguistics. "Our technologies for studying opinions are antiquated - they come from the 1930s," he says. "Large language models provide incredible tools for studying natural language and representing the distribution of opinions in a community."

He analyses, for instance, how collective attitudes form and circulate, especially online.
"Social media allows participation in the conversation for people that have not been able to participate. It produces all these small groupings that can join the conversation, create shared opinions, and support each other."

With colleague Mark Quayle, he describes this dynamic as human murmuration, borrowing the image of flocks of swallows turning together in the sky. "Public opinion murmurates: sometimes it looks like it's dispersing, then it comes together again. It's extremely powerful," he says.

Drawing on Jürgen Habermas's idea of the bourgeois public sphere - the coffeehouses where citizens could challenge sovereign power through conversation - Durrheim notes that public opinion has a history shaped by access and privilege. "All of a sudden citizens were able to wield political power by conversing," he says. "Social media changes that in a number of very important ways."

His concern with who gets to participate in shaping knowledge also extends to the academy. At the University of Johannesburg, promotes methodological innovation and cross-continental collaboration among African scientists. "For too long, African researchers have been trapped in silos - a legacy of colonialism," he says. "Africa and the world need to harness Africa's human capital. To do this, we must shake 400 years of colonial thinking. Find ways to include excluded populations and invest in those spaces - build humanity."

Exploring modesty, safety and a humane society

Now in Helsinki as a Jane and Aatos Erkko Visiting Professor at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Durrheim sees parallels between South Africa and Finland. Both, he suggests, occupy a marginal space that allows them to view global dynamics differently.

"We share marginality. I've refused to work permanently in the Global North because marginality helps you see the world afresh," he says. "That said, I've found intellectual companions in Finland. Finns also feel marginal - on the edges of Europe and the Global North for historical and geographical reasons."

He's fascinated with the concept of modesty. "I feel Finland has cultural modesty. You see it in the aesthetic and architecture. I believe this stems from historical marginalisation and oppression."

That sense of restraint, Durrheim believes, holds a lesson for the world. "The biggest threat to our planet is unbridled aspiration - conspicuous consumption. That's what's killing the planet. We could do with a bit more modesty."