Enabled but disempowered: The “capability gap” in the 21st century 

We are witnessing a “capability gap” among the younger populations (18-45 years old) worldwide. 

On the one hand, these populations are unprecedentedly capacitated. 43% of high school graduates worldwide entered university in 2023, a 2.5-fold increase from 2000. The highly educated enjoy unprecedented access to information, thanks to the advancement in communication technology. 

Their critical consciousness about the social condition is often as sharp as expert analyses. On the other hand, the same populations feel decapacitated: powerless, lack of hope, and loss of direction. The future is frighteningly uncertain, the public discourse is divisive, and chances for making changes appear diminishing. What the World Health Organisation recognised as a global crisis of mental health is a sign of this disempowerment.

You are invited to this roundtable to share your experiences and views. How have you experienced being simultaneously enabled and disempowered? What are the causes of this capability gap? What can we do to close this capability gap, especially through education and research? 

speaker

Born (1972) and raised in China, Xiang Biao is currently a director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany, and was a Professor at the University of Oxford before that. He has worked on migration and social changes in China, India and other parts of Asia. He is now exploring a “common concerns” approach in social research.