SOCI221 –Sociology of Cyberspace
Meeting 4: September 29, 2014
From Social Structure to Social Dynamics
Social Structure
Past Week
Social Structure
Online Activity: Geek Test
- Geekness
- Popular Culture
- Identity
- Geeks in social contexts
Required Texts
- Ritzer, G., and N. Jurgenson. (2010) “Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of the Digital ‘Prosumer’.” Journal of Consumer Culture 10 (1): 13–36. doi:10.1177/1469540509354673. http://joc.sagepub.com/content/10/1/13.short
- Warschauer, M., and T. Matuchniak. (2010) “New Technology and Digital Worlds: Analyzing Evidence of Equity in Access, Use, and Outcomes.” Review of Research in Education 34(1): 179–225. doi:10.3102/0091732X09349791. http://rre.sagepub.com/content/34/1/179
Ritzer
Ritzer, G., and N. Jurgenson. (2010) “Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of the Digital ‘Prosumer’.” Journal of Consumer Culture 10 (1): 13–36. doi:10.1177/1469540509354673. http://joc.sagepub.com/content/10/1/13.short
- Prosumption
- Postindustrial?
- Consumer society
- Product or consumer/user/producer?
Warschauer
Warschauer, M., and T. Matuchniak. (2010) “New Technology and Digital Worlds: Analyzing Evidence of Equity in Access, Use, and Outcomes.” Review of Research in Education 34(1): 179–225. doi:10.3102/0091732X09349791. http://rre.sagepub.com/content/34/1/179
- Usage
- Digital Divide(s)
- 21st Century Learning Skills
Next Week
Social Dynamics
Activity: Digital Inclusion
- Divide in small groups (by numbers)
- Scenario: a schoolboard meeting during which digital inclusion is discussed, a policy is devised to ensure that all students have equal opportunities for success in a digital world.
- Advising: Based on what you’ve seen so far in the course, what should this policy take into account? What are the relevant criteria, factors, dimensions? What insight can sociology give, in this case?
- Feel free to use an actual example from your own experience or to create a fictional case from your diverse experiences.
- Each member of your group should post something about this activity.
Required Texts
- Latour, Bruno. “Networks, Societies, Spheres: Reflections of an Actor-network Theorist.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 796–810. http://lar.me/2-o
- Kreiss, D., M. Finn, and F. Turner. “The Limits of Peer Production: Some Reminders from Max Weber for the Network Society.” New Media & Society 13, no. 2 (October 12, 2010): 243–259. doi:10.1177/1461444810370951. http://lar.me/2-p
Latour
Latour, Bruno. “Networks, Societies, Spheres: Reflections of an Actor-network Theorist.” International Journal of Communication 5 (2011): 796–810. http://lar.me/2-o
- Playful but potentially difficult
- Philosophical (onthology)
- Actor-Network Theory (ANT) vs. classical sociology
- Context: International Seminar on Network Theory (Manuel Castells)
- Deep on “network”
- Agency
Kreiss et al.
Kreiss, D., M. Finn, and F. Turner. “The Limits of Peer Production: Some Reminders from Max Weber for the Network Society.” New Media & Society 13, no. 2 (October 12, 2010): 243–259. doi:10.1177/1461444810370951. http://lar.me/2-p
- Bureaucracy
- Weber
- Rational-legal authority
- Iron cage
- Peer-production
- Web 2.0
- Participatory culture
- Link to prosumption
- Polemic
- Rhetoric
- Reply to Benkler, Jenkins, etc. (conversation with interlocutors)
- Making links
- Identify common names
- Threads between texts
