Samenvatting
Digital Media Sociology
,Les 1: Introduction
(Dit eerste deeltje dient als inleiding)
Our life has become a digital life, we live in a digital society
➔ We take it for granted that the technologies are there -> deep dependence of technology
Sociology studies the social organization of society
- How do people live together?
- What opportunities and problems arise from this?
Questions revolve mainly around:
- Social order (and social cohesion)
- Social inequality, in a material and symbolic sense
- Identity, as a group and as individual
<--> Psychology: Individual cognition, emotion, behavior
How do digital media...
... are implicated in ‘the way we do things’ (social order)?
... disrupt or reproduce power? (social inequality)?
... shape the meaning of things (identity)?
- Micro-level: Changes in our everyday practices
- Macro-level: Changes to our societal institutions
Vb: Food delivery:
- Micro: het is heel normaal geworden, deze digitale
platformen hebben veranderd hoe we take-out meals eten,
bepalen ook wat we eten, welk soort keuken.
- Macro: op economisch vlak -> platform economy ->
opportunities, maar ook challenges -> vb als je een ongeval
tegenkomt, wie is dan verantwoordelijk?
SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL POSITIONS AND SOCIAL ROLES
Social structure = the organized patterns of relationships, rules and ‘rule arrangements’ that
govern how people interact and live together -> iets met regels te maken, dan is het een
institution, anders zijn het sociale posities
(!) Organized ≠ ‘formal’
Arrangements of rules into established systems => social institutions
Arrangements of relationships/interactions => social positions
Platform Economy as an emerging social institution
Social inequality: self-employed or employee?
Social identity: Brand ambassadors or algorithmic slaves?
,Culture = a shared set of beliefs, norms, behaviors, values, symbols, rituals, attitudes, ...
Culture and social structure are linked:
values and beliefs are forces that shape social order
norms are expectations of how one should behave
practices are patterns of behavior normatively expected for certain social positions are social
roles
rituals are habitualized behaviors and can include objects that are symbolic (i.e. carry meaning
and thus value)
The self-employed type of contract that riders have with Deliveroo means that they do not
receive holiday pay. [...] Moreover, riders’ statistics are also affected upon their return to work.
Some riders chose to borrow or rent their Deliveroo accounts on occasions when they cannot
work the shifts they committed to, in order to keep their good statistics intact.
‘’Anyone want my 11:30–13:00 and or 13:00–14:00 shift in Salford on my account? Need to keep
my stats up but can’t attend it. (February 2019)’’
Course Information:
Over the past two decades, digital media have deeply impacted the social
organization of society.
Because digital media have become so taken-for-granted, we often fail to
see this impact.
Digital media sociology aims to lift the veil over the taken-for-grantedness.
How does digitization affect...
> our everyday practices (micro-level)
> our social institutions and the social order (macro-level)
THREE QUESTIONS TIED TO THREE ‘LOGICS’
Socio-historical change: How did we get here?
Micro-level: What are the implications for the everyday life?
Macro-level: What are broader, societal implications?
Media sociology, media psychology & media studies in this course
• media sociology studies how media affect the social organization of society
• media psychology how media affect individual cognition, emotion and behavior
• media studies study the media industry in relation to media users/audiences
, - Vb good looking people on Instagram: beauty ideals (zie slide 19)
(vanaf hier ist voor echt)
Social structure: why do we do the things we do?
➔ the things we do that make it logical to do things in a certain way (vb traffic lights make
rules for society) -> regels die in natuur eigenlijk ook sociaal zijn
➔ Our everyday practices, i.e., the ways in which we typically ‘do things’, reflect the
relationship between individuals and the social order.
-> Social order concerns the ‘rules’ that order society
-> Individuals, through their practices, obey or disobey these rules, thus reproducing the
social order or challenging it
-> Practices are thus inherently relational (= social), persistent/durable (= historical),
and cultural (= contextual)
➔ social change: als genoeg mensen iets anders doen kan dat op termijn de nieuwe social
structure worden (vb olifantenpaadje)
GIDDENS’ STRUCTURATION THEORY
Duality of structure: structure and agency as mutually constitutive (gestuurd door structuren of
creëren ze die zelf? (-> eigenlijk allebij)
-> Social structures: enable and constrain human action (provides rules ánd resources for
meaningful action)
-> Agency: Individuals produce and reproduce social structure.
They are knowledgeable, rational actors with:
(1) the capacity for ‘reflexivity’: a capacity to reflect on the social structure and their role as
reproducing agent in it, and
(2) the capacity to act ‘intentionally rational’ : to modify their behavior in line
with certain goals that they can reasonably justify as being worthy of pursuit
➔ gender roles, gender structure -> is this action (zie foto ->) enough for
social change for men? (agency)
Digital Media Sociology
,Les 1: Introduction
(Dit eerste deeltje dient als inleiding)
Our life has become a digital life, we live in a digital society
➔ We take it for granted that the technologies are there -> deep dependence of technology
Sociology studies the social organization of society
- How do people live together?
- What opportunities and problems arise from this?
Questions revolve mainly around:
- Social order (and social cohesion)
- Social inequality, in a material and symbolic sense
- Identity, as a group and as individual
<--> Psychology: Individual cognition, emotion, behavior
How do digital media...
... are implicated in ‘the way we do things’ (social order)?
... disrupt or reproduce power? (social inequality)?
... shape the meaning of things (identity)?
- Micro-level: Changes in our everyday practices
- Macro-level: Changes to our societal institutions
Vb: Food delivery:
- Micro: het is heel normaal geworden, deze digitale
platformen hebben veranderd hoe we take-out meals eten,
bepalen ook wat we eten, welk soort keuken.
- Macro: op economisch vlak -> platform economy ->
opportunities, maar ook challenges -> vb als je een ongeval
tegenkomt, wie is dan verantwoordelijk?
SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL POSITIONS AND SOCIAL ROLES
Social structure = the organized patterns of relationships, rules and ‘rule arrangements’ that
govern how people interact and live together -> iets met regels te maken, dan is het een
institution, anders zijn het sociale posities
(!) Organized ≠ ‘formal’
Arrangements of rules into established systems => social institutions
Arrangements of relationships/interactions => social positions
Platform Economy as an emerging social institution
Social inequality: self-employed or employee?
Social identity: Brand ambassadors or algorithmic slaves?
,Culture = a shared set of beliefs, norms, behaviors, values, symbols, rituals, attitudes, ...
Culture and social structure are linked:
values and beliefs are forces that shape social order
norms are expectations of how one should behave
practices are patterns of behavior normatively expected for certain social positions are social
roles
rituals are habitualized behaviors and can include objects that are symbolic (i.e. carry meaning
and thus value)
The self-employed type of contract that riders have with Deliveroo means that they do not
receive holiday pay. [...] Moreover, riders’ statistics are also affected upon their return to work.
Some riders chose to borrow or rent their Deliveroo accounts on occasions when they cannot
work the shifts they committed to, in order to keep their good statistics intact.
‘’Anyone want my 11:30–13:00 and or 13:00–14:00 shift in Salford on my account? Need to keep
my stats up but can’t attend it. (February 2019)’’
Course Information:
Over the past two decades, digital media have deeply impacted the social
organization of society.
Because digital media have become so taken-for-granted, we often fail to
see this impact.
Digital media sociology aims to lift the veil over the taken-for-grantedness.
How does digitization affect...
> our everyday practices (micro-level)
> our social institutions and the social order (macro-level)
THREE QUESTIONS TIED TO THREE ‘LOGICS’
Socio-historical change: How did we get here?
Micro-level: What are the implications for the everyday life?
Macro-level: What are broader, societal implications?
Media sociology, media psychology & media studies in this course
• media sociology studies how media affect the social organization of society
• media psychology how media affect individual cognition, emotion and behavior
• media studies study the media industry in relation to media users/audiences
, - Vb good looking people on Instagram: beauty ideals (zie slide 19)
(vanaf hier ist voor echt)
Social structure: why do we do the things we do?
➔ the things we do that make it logical to do things in a certain way (vb traffic lights make
rules for society) -> regels die in natuur eigenlijk ook sociaal zijn
➔ Our everyday practices, i.e., the ways in which we typically ‘do things’, reflect the
relationship between individuals and the social order.
-> Social order concerns the ‘rules’ that order society
-> Individuals, through their practices, obey or disobey these rules, thus reproducing the
social order or challenging it
-> Practices are thus inherently relational (= social), persistent/durable (= historical),
and cultural (= contextual)
➔ social change: als genoeg mensen iets anders doen kan dat op termijn de nieuwe social
structure worden (vb olifantenpaadje)
GIDDENS’ STRUCTURATION THEORY
Duality of structure: structure and agency as mutually constitutive (gestuurd door structuren of
creëren ze die zelf? (-> eigenlijk allebij)
-> Social structures: enable and constrain human action (provides rules ánd resources for
meaningful action)
-> Agency: Individuals produce and reproduce social structure.
They are knowledgeable, rational actors with:
(1) the capacity for ‘reflexivity’: a capacity to reflect on the social structure and their role as
reproducing agent in it, and
(2) the capacity to act ‘intentionally rational’ : to modify their behavior in line
with certain goals that they can reasonably justify as being worthy of pursuit
➔ gender roles, gender structure -> is this action (zie foto ->) enough for
social change for men? (agency)
