Lessig's U Chicago lectures on corruption this fall


Levi says, "Lawrence Lessig will be lecturing at the University of Chicago in October, launching a new series with a series of talks on institutional corruption, with separate talks on the problem in Congress, finance, the media, and the academy, then wrapping up with a lecture that covers possible remedies."

"Institutional corruption" is the product of legal, even currently ethical influences that undermine the effectiveness of an institution, especially by weakening its public trust. In these first annual Berlin Family Lectures, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig explores the application of this concept to a wide range of important public institutions with the aim to establish both the distinctiveness of the conception and its particular relevance to modern American life. Its very character saps the ordinary mechanisms by which institutions respond to charges of "corruption." And as Lessig argues, the conception shows the need for a different perspective on the idea of institutional ethics — one focused less on the behavior of good or bad souls, and more on the consequences of institutional design.

America: Compromised/Studies in Institutional Corruption

(Thanks, Levi!)

(Image: 2008_04_05_lessig-ames_29, Doc Searls, CC-BY-SA)