DIGITAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION
TAKEN-FOR-GRANTEDNESS
We are constantly on our phones.
- Taken-for-grantedness ~ Rich Ling
o We take it for granted that all of these technologies are there.
o Ling wants to make clear with this concept that creates sensitivity to how, sometimes the most
profound changes to society are actually in the micro trivial details of everyday life.
What can we learn if we deconstruct these observations?
SOCIOLGY
Sociology studies the social organization of society
- How do people live together?
- What opportunities and problems arise from this?
Question revolve mainly around:
- Social order (and social cohesion)
- Social inequality, in a material and symbolic sense
- Identity, as a group and as a individual
o The study of social life, how we organize society, how we all live together. How do we organize
things?
o For example: in Flanders education is extremely cheap, as a result of that, education is
democratic. There is not a big barrier for education. In the USA it’s way more expensive.
1
,A DIGITAL MEDIA SOCIETY
How do digital media...
... are implicated in ‘the way we do things’ (social order), how do social media affect how we do things, how do
they affect the social order, the way we do things?
... disrupt or reproduce power? (social inequality)?
... shape the meaning of things (identity), the meaning of things?
❖ Micro-level: Changes in our everyday practices
❖ Macro-level: Changes to our societal institutions
We will look at the everyday life (micro-level), but we will also look at macro-level: the sky is the limit, changes to
our societal institutions.
MICRO: LEVEL: THE WAY WE DO THINGS
❖ Micro-level
➢ In terms of the way we do things, digital platforms they have changed the way we
organize take-out meals and fast-food meals.
➢ This has also impacted what we eat, the type of cuisine we have. It can change how
healthy we are as people, because the barrier have become lower.
➢ There is also a new profession for take away deliverers.
2
,MACRO-LEVEL: INSTITUTIONALIZATION
➢ The economy and this type of phenomenon lies under what we call the platform economy (type of
economy that has come in the wake of internet 2.0).
➢ It exposes them to new challenges. If you have an
accident during your delivery, who is responsibly?
➢ That opens question about inequality.
Platform work in the European Union has come under increased
scrutiny, for its precarious and sometimes exploitative working
conditions and limited social-security coverage. With the recent
agreement on the platform-work directive, an EU-wide consensus
has been reached on a common framework for classifying the
employment status of platform workers. But the issue of poor working conditions remains unaddressed.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL POSITIONS AND SOCIAL RO LES
Social structure = the organized patterns of relationships, rules and ‘rule arrangements’ that govern how people
interact and live together.
How we organize things, how people, things, materiality are organized and what rule arrangements exist to
organize that. The more something is institutionalized, the more the rules are formal. Sometimes there are formal
rules, but sometimes there aren’t.
- For example: the mean girls at school are also structural, but it’s informal.
(!) 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?
We can look at the social order but also at questions about social inequality. But also how they (delivery person)
look at themselves.
3
, SOCIAL STRUCTURE & CULTURE
Culture = a shared set of beliefs, norms, behaviors, values, symbols, rituals, attitudes, ... looks at what comes with
that social order, particular value and norms.
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 1130–1300 and or 1300–
1400 shift in Salford on my account? Need to
keep my stats up but
can’t attend it. (February 2019)
Researcher became a delivery person to find out what the norms, structures are.
➔ When they return from vacation they get fewer jobs, so they developed a system among themselves to
signs in on that account so it stays active.
COURSE INFORMATION
DIGITAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY
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.
4
LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION
TAKEN-FOR-GRANTEDNESS
We are constantly on our phones.
- Taken-for-grantedness ~ Rich Ling
o We take it for granted that all of these technologies are there.
o Ling wants to make clear with this concept that creates sensitivity to how, sometimes the most
profound changes to society are actually in the micro trivial details of everyday life.
What can we learn if we deconstruct these observations?
SOCIOLGY
Sociology studies the social organization of society
- How do people live together?
- What opportunities and problems arise from this?
Question revolve mainly around:
- Social order (and social cohesion)
- Social inequality, in a material and symbolic sense
- Identity, as a group and as a individual
o The study of social life, how we organize society, how we all live together. How do we organize
things?
o For example: in Flanders education is extremely cheap, as a result of that, education is
democratic. There is not a big barrier for education. In the USA it’s way more expensive.
1
,A DIGITAL MEDIA SOCIETY
How do digital media...
... are implicated in ‘the way we do things’ (social order), how do social media affect how we do things, how do
they affect the social order, the way we do things?
... disrupt or reproduce power? (social inequality)?
... shape the meaning of things (identity), the meaning of things?
❖ Micro-level: Changes in our everyday practices
❖ Macro-level: Changes to our societal institutions
We will look at the everyday life (micro-level), but we will also look at macro-level: the sky is the limit, changes to
our societal institutions.
MICRO: LEVEL: THE WAY WE DO THINGS
❖ Micro-level
➢ In terms of the way we do things, digital platforms they have changed the way we
organize take-out meals and fast-food meals.
➢ This has also impacted what we eat, the type of cuisine we have. It can change how
healthy we are as people, because the barrier have become lower.
➢ There is also a new profession for take away deliverers.
2
,MACRO-LEVEL: INSTITUTIONALIZATION
➢ The economy and this type of phenomenon lies under what we call the platform economy (type of
economy that has come in the wake of internet 2.0).
➢ It exposes them to new challenges. If you have an
accident during your delivery, who is responsibly?
➢ That opens question about inequality.
Platform work in the European Union has come under increased
scrutiny, for its precarious and sometimes exploitative working
conditions and limited social-security coverage. With the recent
agreement on the platform-work directive, an EU-wide consensus
has been reached on a common framework for classifying the
employment status of platform workers. But the issue of poor working conditions remains unaddressed.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE & SOCIAL POSITIONS AND SOCIAL RO LES
Social structure = the organized patterns of relationships, rules and ‘rule arrangements’ that govern how people
interact and live together.
How we organize things, how people, things, materiality are organized and what rule arrangements exist to
organize that. The more something is institutionalized, the more the rules are formal. Sometimes there are formal
rules, but sometimes there aren’t.
- For example: the mean girls at school are also structural, but it’s informal.
(!) 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?
We can look at the social order but also at questions about social inequality. But also how they (delivery person)
look at themselves.
3
, SOCIAL STRUCTURE & CULTURE
Culture = a shared set of beliefs, norms, behaviors, values, symbols, rituals, attitudes, ... looks at what comes with
that social order, particular value and norms.
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 1130–1300 and or 1300–
1400 shift in Salford on my account? Need to
keep my stats up but
can’t attend it. (February 2019)
Researcher became a delivery person to find out what the norms, structures are.
➔ When they return from vacation they get fewer jobs, so they developed a system among themselves to
signs in on that account so it stays active.
COURSE INFORMATION
DIGITAL MEDIA SOCIOLOGY
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.
4
