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What is Sociology?
What is Digital Sociology?
The rise of digital technology is transforming the world in which we live. Our digitalized societies demand new ways of thinking about the social, and this short book introduces readers to an approach that can deliver this: digital sociology.
Neil Selwyn examines the concepts, tools and practices that sociologists are developing to analyze the intersections of the social and the digital. Blending theory and empirical examples, the five chapters highlight areas of inquiry where digital approaches are taking hold and shaping the discipline of sociology today. The book explores key topics such as digital race and digital labor, as well as the fast-changing nature of digital research methods and diversifying forms of digital scholarship.
Designed for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, this timely introduction will be an invaluable resource for all sociologists seeking to focus their craft and thinking toward the social complexities of the digital age.
Neil Selwyn examines the concepts, tools and practices that sociologists are developing to analyze the intersections of the social and the digital. Blending theory and empirical examples, the five chapters highlight areas of inquiry where digital approaches are taking hold and shaping the discipline of sociology today. The book explores key topics such as digital race and digital labor, as well as the fast-changing nature of digital research methods and diversifying forms of digital scholarship.
Designed for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, this timely introduction will be an invaluable resource for all sociologists seeking to focus their craft and thinking toward the social complexities of the digital age.
- GenresSociology
152 pages, Hardcover
Published February 11, 2019
About the author
Neil Selwyn
36 books11 followersNeil Selwyn is a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Education, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He has worked for the past 25 years researching the integration of digital technology into schools, universities and adult learning. He is recognised as a leading international researcher in the area of digital education - with particular expertise in the 'real-life' constraints and problems faced when technology-based education is implemented. He is currently working on nationally-funded projects examining the roll-out of educational data and learning analytics, AI technologies, and the changing nature of teachers' digital work.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 29, 2020
I'm in the early stages of a PhD on relations between online social network providers and users which brought me to this book. The author, Neil Selwyn, is a professor at Monash with a penchant for speaking his mind. His article 'Minding our language: why education and technology is full of bullshit and what might be done about it' fits in with Anna Krein's shocking piece 'The Screens That Ate School' in the June 2020 issue of
The Monthly
.
In What is Digital Sociology? he is more at arm's length. I'm full of admiration for the fact that the book is straightforward, when the subject itself is anything but. He spells out the many ways in which things are the same but different - sociology is still sociology, but there is this new world, there are new tools creating it, interacting with it and - for the researcher - measuring it. He raises the pros, but also the somewhat disturbing cons, of Big Data. He talks about the 'thick' research which can compensate for that. After discussing the methods ranging from traditional to outrageous that digital sociologists are using, I was relieved that he touched on the ethics of the latter.
Towards the end he asks who are the people doing this digital sociology. The straightforward answer would be 'digital sociologists' but, of course, nothing is that simple in this world. Social scientists share virtual desks with computer scientists. Precariously placed under- or un- employed academics compete for attention with their rockstar betters. And maybe some are carrying on their passion the way Einstein did, clerk by day....And disciplines merge in and out of each other. Media studies, philosophy, ethics, IT, economics: you could start out in one of many different places and find yourself coming to this book, as I have discovered.
The book is thorough, as well as clear. It has an excellent, up-to-date bibliography which will take you in many different directions - the book perforce covers much ground, albeit in short form. It'll make a great undergrad textbook.
Highly recommended for anybody looking for an accessible, jargon-free introduction to this subject and these days anybody who has a life online would do well to understand the issues it discusses. I don't think, in other words, you need a special reason to read this.
In What is Digital Sociology? he is more at arm's length. I'm full of admiration for the fact that the book is straightforward, when the subject itself is anything but. He spells out the many ways in which things are the same but different - sociology is still sociology, but there is this new world, there are new tools creating it, interacting with it and - for the researcher - measuring it. He raises the pros, but also the somewhat disturbing cons, of Big Data. He talks about the 'thick' research which can compensate for that. After discussing the methods ranging from traditional to outrageous that digital sociologists are using, I was relieved that he touched on the ethics of the latter.
Towards the end he asks who are the people doing this digital sociology. The straightforward answer would be 'digital sociologists' but, of course, nothing is that simple in this world. Social scientists share virtual desks with computer scientists. Precariously placed under- or un- employed academics compete for attention with their rockstar betters. And maybe some are carrying on their passion the way Einstein did, clerk by day....And disciplines merge in and out of each other. Media studies, philosophy, ethics, IT, economics: you could start out in one of many different places and find yourself coming to this book, as I have discovered.
The book is thorough, as well as clear. It has an excellent, up-to-date bibliography which will take you in many different directions - the book perforce covers much ground, albeit in short form. It'll make a great undergrad textbook.
Highly recommended for anybody looking for an accessible, jargon-free introduction to this subject and these days anybody who has a life online would do well to understand the issues it discusses. I don't think, in other words, you need a special reason to read this.
February 7, 2021
Although the term "digital sociology" might have only emerged quite recently, Selwyn argues that it isn't a new or a radical form of sociology. It just hasn't gained "mainstream acceptance" yet, mainly because 1) not enough people know what it is; 2) most digital sociology works are often done elsewhere, i.e. in fields other than sociology and by people who don't call themselves sociologists, e.g. in the field of cultural and media studies, communication and information studies, anthropology, urban geography etc.
The book doesn't try to define what digital sociology is. What it does is open up discussions on how the field can be advanced and how it can enrich sociology, rather than to "usurp" it. As Selwyn puts it, digital sociology isn't a set of dogmatic precepts, but rather "a deliberate refocusing of attention, effort, and thinking." We need to understand it as a "moment," rather than a "movement." As a pre-emptive for critics who question the necessity for "another form of sociology," Selwyn contends that digital sociology serves as a reminder that now is the time for "problematising rather than celebrating digital technology." It's a time to ask questions of: 1) what we're not happy with; 2) what we're going to do about it, and 3) what we might want as an alternative.
The book is lacking in terms of depth and details, but I guess it has to do with its length. it's a relatively short book, 134 pages inclusive of references and indices. But it serves as a great introduction to digital sociology and points readers to plenty of useful references for further readings.
The book doesn't try to define what digital sociology is. What it does is open up discussions on how the field can be advanced and how it can enrich sociology, rather than to "usurp" it. As Selwyn puts it, digital sociology isn't a set of dogmatic precepts, but rather "a deliberate refocusing of attention, effort, and thinking." We need to understand it as a "moment," rather than a "movement." As a pre-emptive for critics who question the necessity for "another form of sociology," Selwyn contends that digital sociology serves as a reminder that now is the time for "problematising rather than celebrating digital technology." It's a time to ask questions of: 1) what we're not happy with; 2) what we're going to do about it, and 3) what we might want as an alternative.
The book is lacking in terms of depth and details, but I guess it has to do with its length. it's a relatively short book, 134 pages inclusive of references and indices. But it serves as a great introduction to digital sociology and points readers to plenty of useful references for further readings.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews