The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society

1076 Pages·2020·10.157 MB·English

by  Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice

Copyright Page
Copyright Page
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
Print Publication Date: Aug 2020 Subject: Sociology Online Publication Date: Aug 2020
Copyright Page
(p. iv)
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Preface
Preface
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
Print Publication Date: Aug 2020 Subject: Sociology Online Publication Date: Aug 2020
Preface
(p. v)
Introduction
THIS book is based upon work undertaken as part of the UK Economic and Social Re­
search Council commissioned project “Ways of Being in a Digital Age”—for which Simeon
was Principal Investigator and Ronald was a member of the Steering Group. The primary
goal of the project was to identify the upcoming research questions and challenges facing
the social sciences as they address the impacts that digital media and technologies are
having and may have. This included a systematic review of prior work and a “horizon
scanning” derived from expert opinion. This book is therefore as full of questions as it is
of findings or answers. In particular, it identifies the topics that the social sciences, often
in interdisciplinary collaboration, will need to tackle—probably sooner rather than later.
The book is structured around the themes of the project—slightly reworked in the light of
the findings. We have called these “domains.” The following list presents their initial de­
scriptions, while the last part of Chapter 1 describes the ESRC and subsequent confer­
ence and workshops in more detail, the final domains, and their main questions.
Initial Domains and Scoping Questions
1.Citizenship and politics
How does digital technology impacts on our autonomy, agency, and privacy—illus­
trated by the paradox of emancipation and control?
Whether and how our understanding of citizenship is evolving in the digital age—
for example whether technology helps or hinders us in participating at individual
and community levels?
2.Communities and identities
How we define and authenticate ourselves in a digital age?
What new forms of communities and work emerge as a result of digital technolo­
gies—for example, new forms of coordination including large-scale and remote
collaboration?
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Preface
3. Communication and relationships
How are our relationships being shaped and sustained in and between various do­
mains, including family and work?
(p. vi) 4. Health and well-being
Does technology make us healthier, better educated, and more productive?
5. Economy and sustainability
How do we construct the digital to be open to all, sustainable, and secure?
What impacts might the automation of the future workforce bring?
6. Data and representation
How we live with and trust the algorithms and data analysis used to shape key
features of our lives?
7. Governance and security
What are the challenges of ethics, trust, and consent in the digital age?
How we define responsibility and accountability in the digital age?
Challenges
Interdisciplinary Views of the Digital Society
The project, the book, and research on the social impacts of digital media and technology
have faced and will continue to face a number of key challenges. One of the great chal­
lenges of working in this field is that of avoiding simplistic “technological determinism”—
or what Grint and Woolgar (2013) call “technism”—an inherent or implied reliance on
“obvious or intrinsic” features of the technology in explanations of technology develop­
ment, use, or effects. Technism falls short of “technological determinism”—an approach
that Grint and Woolgar argue is very rarely fully taken—but implies the assumption that
technologies have intrinsic features that determine outcomes. We hope that we have
sought to avoid this as much as we can, and to have captured the reflective and reflexive
nature of the interactions among technologies, social systems and structures, and people.
Another major challenge is that of interdisciplinary collaboration. Many questions require
multiple disciplinary perspectives—across the social sciences, into health and engineer­
ing, but very often in collaboration with computer science and information studies col­
leagues. How does one understand the uses, implications, and role of the smartphone in
any social domain without also understanding the telecommunications infrastructure,
hardware, software, security, and design issues underlying the device? As a result, many
of the contributions to this book are from very different disciplines (see Chapter 1), and
this has enriched the perspective and critical analysis that have been considered.
The interdisciplinary perspectives and the way new technologies have been developing
have also introduced new ethical challenges in our research objects as well as our prac­
tices as researchers. Questions around automation, security, surveillance, and privacy
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Preface
(chapters 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 22) have complicated how we think about the
(p. vii) relationship between humans and machines and what are the roles of govern­
ments, technology companies, and civil society in their design, use, and regulation. When
it comes to conducting research on these subjects or using digital technologies to exam­
ine them, researchers also face new ethical challenges of what they can and should ac­
cess, collect, analyze, and then present or publish. Digital media and technologies, then,
have complicated how we do research, how we think about our research objects and sub­
jects, and who is involved in these processes.
Volume of Literature and Digital Tools
Another challenge is the volume of work out there needing to be reviewed and assessed.
As we note in chapter 2, it is a feature of our contemporary world that the volume of aca­
demic work continues to increase at a far greater rate than can be followed. As Petticrew
and Roberts note:
The problem is not just one of inconsistency, but one of information overload. The
past 20 years have seen an explosion in the amount of research information avail­
able to decision makers and social researchers alike. With new journals launched
yearly, and thousands of research papers published, it is impossible for even the
most energetic policymaker or researcher to keep up-to-date with the most recent
research evidence, unless they are interested in a very narrow field indeed.
(Petticrew & Roberts, 2008, p. 7)
In the ESRC project, and in many of the non-ESRC chapters, we have turned to digital
tools to help manage this mass of literature—to extract topics and concepts from close to
thousands of articles in few hours rather than in tens of thousands of hours. This is an ex­
ample of the well-documented fact that digital tools are therefore transforming how we
undertake many aspects of social research. The project therefore provided an opportunity
to experiment with several of these tools and methods (see chapter 2). Thus, two charac­
teristics of this Handbook of Digital Technology and Society is the broad range of litera­
ture covered in most chapters, and the frequent use of computer-based programs and
techniques for collecting, analyzing, and displaying the results of that literature.
Constant Change
Another key challenge for work in this field is the constantly changing nature of the arte­
facts, contexts, and social practices as technologies develop and change, and are adapted
and socially constructed. This is often a clearly two-way street as social change (p. viii)
and regulation change systems and new systems create new opportunities, debates, and
challenges. This influences research as scholars seek to address current issues, new tech­
nologies, new behaviors, and new implications. The ESRC chapters have reflected on this
by contrasting the development of concepts and topics over the period of the sampled lit­
erature and through the reflections of the experts involved in the ESRC project.
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Preface
This constant change generates a specific set of challenges for theory and methods: Do
we need new theory and methods? Or do our existing tools still work—if slightly modi­
fied? We have found in exploring the literature a highly varied mix of work. In many cases
the work is inductive, documenting and evidencing digital media and technology use and
impacts but not testing or evaluating theory—with a good number of papers being “theo­
ry free.” Having said this, many papers draw on key social theories—with the notable re-
use and revision of older theory. Uses and Gratifications is one notable “older” social the­
ory that has been given new life by examinations of digital media use (see chapters 8, 9,
18, and 21). In other cases, new theory has had to be developed and honed to explore
specific issues or to address challenges specific to digital technology use. An example
here would be “unified user acceptance” theory or models (see chapter 13). Questions
concerning theory that we might address include,
• How is the digital socially and technically conceptualized?
• Which theories are predominant in which domains?
• What new theory has been developed, and/or is “old theory” adequate to the task of
explaining the social impacts and use of the digital?
• To what extent is digital research theoretically or empirically driven?
• Which concepts and key themes cluster and link regardless of theoretical or empiri­
cal approach?
• Can a new “theoretical framework” for understanding the digital be generated, and
is this needed?
• To what extent have interdisciplinary approaches modified or developed theory?
• Which methods predominate in which domains of work?
• Does the availability of large volumes of digital data change how the digital is stud­
ied and/or the approaches taken to the social in a digital world?
• Are certain methods intrinsically linked to certain domains or theories? How are
methods tied to the social contexts around digital research?
• Have interdisciplinary approaches modified or prioritized certain methods in the
study of the digital?
We hope that by documenting issues of theory and method the book can help colleagues
reflect on issues of theory selection and testing, as well as appropriate methodology. In
this way, the book provides a snapshot from a brief period in time, assembling what has
been studied in the area of digital media and technologies with an eye to the future of this
research.
(p. ix) Chapters in the Book
The chapters in the book either present the outcomes from the respective domains of the
ESRC project or they are developed from responses to an open call as part of the Ways of
Being Conference held in 2017 (both of which are described more fully in chapter 1). The
non-ESRC contribution chapters represent reviews, reflections on the state of the art, or
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Preface
the application of reviews to various kinds of evidence in each of the domains. The Table
of Contents provides detailed listings of the sections of each chapter as a guide to their
content and focus. The online versions of each chapter also provide an abstract.
All of the chapters should help provide overviews for, and spark ideas for and debates
about, future research directions in the broad and evolving area of digital technology and
society. As such, we would hope that current and future scholars can draw upon these as
a resource when planning their work, using these chapters as foundations and baselines
for literature reviews, as well as identifying central concepts and topics and larger re­
search areas that need more attention and explication. We have also provided a range of
supporting materials and visualizations via the project website at https://
waysofbeingdigital.com.
The production of the materials presented in the ESRC chapters was a complex process
involving contributions of the core research team, the project post-doctoral researchers,
and other colleagues. The ESRC chapters follow a fairly similar and standard initial for­
mat developed by the core team—especially Sim Yates, Jordana Blejmar, and Elinor Carmi
—and revised and finalized by Ron Rice. In listing the authorships of these chapters, we
have tried to reflect as accurately as we can the contributions to these chapters from core
project team members, either directly or via Delphi or workshop materials. We more gen­
erally acknowledge the contributions made by all across the project.
Ron conceptualized the structure and flow of chapters, worked with Oxford University
Press to develop a shared approach to the book, worked with the chapter authors through
multiple versions of all 25 chapters, and developed and continually updated the surround­
ing material to ensure consistency of text and reference format, correspondence of terms,
cross-referencing, and style.
Ron and Sim engaged in multiple iterations of the materials, raising questions, resolving
questions, and sharing detailed descriptions of all the things going on in our personal and
academic lives that continually got in the way of completing the book. Irony, dark humor,
encouragement, promises, arcane analysis details, Byzantine university politics, strikes,
Brexit, floods, fires, emergency administration meetings, changes in contributors’ affilia­
tions, reshuffling of chapter order, and debates about the proper use of “concept” or “top­
ic” pervaded these email and Skype conversations.
(p. x) Potential Audiences
Primary audiences for the Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society are re­
searchers, faculty, and graduate students, in one or more of the seven theme areas. The
entire book, and certainly specific chapters, provide required reading for anyone interest­
ed in the multifaceted nature of relationships between digital technology and society. Se­
condary audiences are policymakers, research funding agencies, libraries, and upper-lev­
el college students working on academic projects. The chapters should provide exception­
al resources for those working on projects needing literature background and sources for
deeper insights, research results, and theoretical foundations. Readers will benefit from
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Preface
this book’s disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary perspectives. Given the
seven theme sections—Health, Age, and Home; Communication and Relationships; Orga­
nizational Contexts; Communities, Identities, and Class; Citizenship, Politics, and Partici­
pation; Data, Representation, and Sharing; Governance and Accountability—as well as a
Synthesis section, different portions of the proposed book could be of interest to diverse
audiences, including, for example, those interested in sociology, political science, commu­
nication, psychology, media policy, management, organizational community, community
studies, environment, economics, public administration, political communication, digital
design, socio-technical systems, public health, and media research. No prior training or
expertise is required to read or benefit from the chapters.
Conclusion
This book was born out of a need to understand what the future research challenges will
be for social research in understanding the relationships among digital technology and
society. It is not meant as a definitive guide to this, but as rather a set of starting points
and provocations to fellow scholars (and ourselves) as to the next steps in research, prac­
tice, and policy.
Simeon J. Yates, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Ronald E. Rice, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States
(p. xi) Acknowledgments
Particular thanks need to go to our colleagues Jordana Blejmar and Elinor Carmi. Jordana
was instrumental in organizing the conference from which the non-ESRC chapters came.
Both Jordana and Elinor managed many of the practicalities of getting the ESRC chapters
together, and they were quick and detailed in providing additional literature reviews and
editorial suggestions for all the ESRC chapters. We obviously need to thank all the con­
tributors to the project and to the book without whose input neither the research nor the
contributions to this volume would have been possible.
Sim thanks the ESRC, which funded the project, and the UK Defence Science Technology
Laboratory and the US National Science Foundation, which funded the workshops. He al­
so thanks Ron, Jordana, and Elinor for their patience as he got distracted over the life of
the project and book writing by role changes, a secondment to government, and a univer­
sity promotion. As ever, thanks to his family: Rachel, Ciaran, Ethan, and Niamh for just
being there (and typing up workshop “yellow stickies”—if only for extra pocket money!).
Ron thanks the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation for funding his UC Santa Barbara endowed
professorship, which supported travel and other resources involved in this project. He al­
so thanks Claire for her ongoing tolerance of his frequent late-night editing work, and our
cats Tinker and Belle for their frequent occupation of his desk and keyboard during those
times.
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Preface
We very much appreciate the enthusiastic initial response to our book proposal by Hallie
Stebbins at Oxford University Press, and the ongoing support by the Oxford University
Press Editor Sarah Humphreville. Thanks, too, to the copyeditor Suzanne Copenhagen,
the production team at SPi Global, and indexer Robert Swanson.
Grint, K., & Woolgar, S. (2013). The machine at work: Technology, work and organization.
New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2008). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical
guide. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
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List of Figures
List of Figures  
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and Society
Edited by Simeon J. Yates and Ronald E. Rice
Print Publication Date: Aug 2020 Subject: Sociology Online Publication Date: Aug 2020
List of Figures
(p. xxi)
1.1 Trends over time in mention of four major digital terms in books through 2008,
based on Google Ngram Viewer. 11
1.2 Hierarchical clustering of main codes based on co-occurrence (correlation) of
main and subcodes within each source text. 25
2.1 Delphi process. 41
2.2 Bubble map of concept pairs. 48
2.3 Tree map of concept pairs. 49
2.4 Interactive topic modelling graph–topic. 50
2.5 Interactive topic modelling graph–keyword. 51
2.6 WordStat topic modelling. 52
3.1 Health and Well-Being 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 60
3.2 Health and Well-Being 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 61
4.1 Distribution of nine core topics over time. 94
4.2 Top 20 journals. 94
4.3 Distribution of articles per discipline over time. 95
4.4 Distribution of mental health concepts over time. 96
8.1 Communication 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 226
8.2 Communication 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 227
11.1 Economy 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 327
11.2 Economy 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 328
13.1 Digital roll-outs (or not) by company size. 375
13.2 Number of digital roll-outs by organization size (area represents proportion of
cases). 375
13.3 Roll-outs or not by sector. 376
13.4 Digital solution roll-outs by sector (area represents proportion of cases). 377
13.5 Increase in roll-outs over the last two years by sector. 378
13.6 Reasons for digital roll-outs. 379
13.7 Knowledge worker and number of roll-outs. 384
13.8 Proportion of digital roll-outs UK workforce thought successful. 384
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List of Figures
(p. xxii) 13.9 Level of employment and number of roll-outs experienced. 385
13.10 Positive impacts of new digital tools. 386
13.11 Reasons for a negative attitude. 387
13.12 Organization size and challenges to implementation of digital solutions. 389
13.13 Levels of organizational challenge and successful digital roll-outs. 389
13.14 Communication channels used. 390
13.15 Adequate communication and communication channel. 391
13.16 Communications channels and successful roll-outs. 392
13.17 Leadership and successful roll-outs. 392
13.18 Leadership by sector. 393
13.19 Regression model of perceptions of successful digital roll-outs. 397
14.1 Communities and Identities 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 409
14.2 Communities and Identities 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 410
15.1 Mean of frequency of social media use by social class (NS-SEC). 437
15.2 Type of Internet user by social class (NRS). 438
15.3 MCA analysis—overall results. 440
15.4 Mean number of social media platforms used by class. 443
15.5 Social media platforms used by social class (NS-SEC). 444
16.1 Citizenship 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 453
16.2 Citizenship 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 454
18.1 Data and representation 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 506
18.2 Data and representation 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 507
21.1 Summary of review of motivations for online knowledge sharing. 592
22.1 Governance and security 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 610
22.2 Governance and security 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 611
23.1 Governance tools and their application at different levels of IoT activity. (Smith,
2012) 632
24.1 Productivity graph. 662
24.2 Clustering of ideas: ESRC-NSF workshop. 665
24.3 Political, economic, social, technical, legal, and environmental clustering:
ESRC-NSF workshop. 666
24.4 Final research topic template: ESRC-DSTL workshop. 667
25.1 All seven domains 2000–2004: Most frequent concept pairs. 701
25.2 All seven domains 2012–2016: Most frequent concept pairs. 702
25.3 Hierarchical clustering of non-ESRC chapters based on co-occurrence of coded
themes. 716
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