Sociology in the age of the Internet / Allison Cavanagh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cavanagh, Allison.

Series:

Sociology and social change

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Internet--Social aspects.

Internet.

Information society.

Computers and civilization.

Physical Description:

179 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Maidenhead : McGraw Hill/Open University Press, 2007.

Summary:

In recent years there has been a large and diverse body of writing from scholars in the social sciences who have been studying changes brought about by new communication technologies in general and the Internet in particular. The question of how people behave, interact and organize themselves in relation to this form of communication has been given added prominence by developments within new social theory, especially in relation to the novelty of contemporary social formations and the importance of mass communications to this changed order.

For the student new to the study of technology and society, there are a bewildering array of claims and counter claims, representing a spectrum of theoretical, methodological and critical sensibilities in relation to the Internet. In this new book Allison Cavanagh evaluates the work in this area by: Investigating the novelty of the Internet and setting the Internet in the context of communication histories, Evaluating the extent and rate of change through a synthesis of the available empirical literature, Providing a key to understanding the changes identified through an evaluation of the utility of new social theory. Sociology in the Age of the Internet is essential reading for academics and students with an interest in the relationship between the Internet and society.

Contents:

Part 1 The rise of the network metaphor

1 Approaches to networks 23

2 Network methodologies 27

3 The network society 38

4 The internet as a network 48

Part 2 The internet as a medium

5 Elements of a public sphere 64

6 Interactivity: it's got to be jelly 'cos jam don't shake like that 81

7 The global public sphere and forms of power 92

Part 3 The internet as a social space

8 Community 102

9 Online identity 120

Part 4 The internet as a technology

10 Sociologies of technology 139

11 The sociology of technology and the internet: emergent perspectives 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780335217267

0335217265

0335217257

9780335217250

OCLC:

82671715