Listening Post

Listening Posts are regular meetings that take a ‘snapshot’ of society at a particular moment in time. They explore the idea that a small group, when studying the behaviour of the wider social system that is society, will unconsciously express some of the characteristics of society and that these are discernible from the themes and patterns emerging from the discussion.

This method of exploring the underlying dynamics in society is without parallel as a piece of social science research, with data now available from over 30 countries around the world.

Since they originated in 1975, Listening Posts have been developed and standardised by OPUS. The current format was adopted in 2000.

International Listening Post

The International Listening Post Project is convened on an annual basis to coincide with the London New Year Listening Post. The Project was first convened in fifteen countries in 2004. Now, in January of each year, Listening Posts are held in around thirty countries under the guidance and coordination of OPUS. These are all presented in a common format as a Global Report.

This research now has several years of Global Reports to compare and is generating valuable data that is increasing in relevance as the effects of globalisation are felt throughout the world.