Sociology of the Internet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sociology of (the) Internet or sociology of (the) cyberspace explores the social implications of the Internet, new social networks, online societies (virtual communities) and social interaction on the Internet.

The Internet - the newest in the series of major information breakthroughs - is of interest for sociologists in various ways: as a tool for research, for example, in using online questionnaires instead of paper ones, as a discussion platform, and as a research topic. Sociology of the Internet in the last sense includes analysis of online communities (e.g. as found in newsgroups), virtual communities and virtual worlds, organizational change catalyzed through new media like the Internet, and social change at-large in the transformation from industrial to informational society (or to information society). Online communities can be studied statistically through network analysis and at the same time interpreted qualitatively, such as though virtual ethnography. Social change can be studied through statistical demographics or through the interpretation of changing messages and symbols in online media studies.

Contents

[edit] Emergence of the discipline

The Internet is a very new phenomenon. As Robert Darnton wrote, it is a revolutionary change that however "took place yesterday, or the day before, depending on how you measure it."[1] The Internet developed from the ARPANET, dating back to 1969; as a term it was coined in 1974. The World Wide Web as we know it was shaped in early 1990s, when graphical interface and services like email became popular and reached wider (non-scientific and non-military) audiences and commerce.[1][2] Internet Explorer was first released in 1995; Netscape a year earlier. Google was founded barely a decade ago, in 1998.[1][2] Over time, the amount of information available on the net and the number of Internet users worldwide has continued to grow quickly.[2]

[edit] Research trends

According to DiMaggio et al. (2001),[2] research tends to focus on the Internet's implications in five domains:

  1. inequality (the issues of digital divide)
  2. community and social capital (the issues of time displacement)
  3. political participation (the issues of public sphere, deliberative democracy and civil society)
  4. organizations and other economic institutions
  5. cultural participation and cultural diversity

After an early period in which there were predictions that the Internet will change everything (or nothing), a consensus has emerged that the Internet tends to complement rather than displace existing media.[2] In the end, the Internet still offers a valuable opportunity to study changes wrought by the newly emerged - and still evolving - communication technology.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Robert Darnton, The Library in the New Age, The New York Review of Books, Volume 55, Number 10 ยท June 12, 2008. Retrieved on 28 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Paul DiMaggio, Eszter Hargittai1, W. Russell Neuman, and John P. Robinnson, Social Implications of the Internet, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27: 307-336 (Volume publication date August 2001), (doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.307) [1]

[edit] Further reading

  • John A. Bargh and Katelyn Y. A. McKenna, The Internet and Social Life, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 55: 573-590 (Volume publication date February 2004), (doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922) [2]
  • Allison Cavanagh, Sociology in the Age of the Internet, McGraw-Hill International, 2007, ISBN 0335217257
  • Christine Hine, Virtual Methods: Issues in Social Research on the Internet, Berg Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1845200853
  • Rob Kling, The Internet for Sociologists, Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Jul., 1997), pp. 434-444
  • Joan Ferrante-Wallace, Joan Ferrante, Sociology.net: Sociology on the Internet, Thomson Wadsworth, 1996, ISBN 0534527566
  • D. R. Wilson, Researching Sociology on the Internet, Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004, ISBN 0534624375

[edit] External links