Theoretical Contributions of Digital Sociology

Digital societies pose new theoretical and conceptual challenges for sociological inquiry. Information and communication technologies have transformed social relations and everyday life. ICTs have reshaped how we relate to one another, study, work, move, and organize politically. They have changed subjects, practices, and infrastructures.

This historical and cultural shift has also dramatically altered how we connect collectively by changing access to information and the sharing of content across countless topics and has produced a new public space and, in some national cases, a techno-mediated public sphere.

Sociology must therefore adapt its classical theories to this reality and develop new concepts and theories capable of explaining the social transformations accompanying the widespread adoption of ICTs.

This session welcomes proposals, empirically grounded or theoretical, that address the digital challenge to our discipline. It invites dialogues with classical sociological theory, debates about early attempts to conceptualize digital subjects and the transformations that require us to rethink them, and contributions that advance new analytical frames, concepts, or theories for contemporary digital phenomena.