BASS Social Anthropology and Sociology

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This first-year Sociology unit will introduce students to key concepts, issues, and debates in digital sociology. Students will consider how digital sociology both extends and upends traditional sociological theories, methods, practices, and areas of study. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical developments within digital sociology, this module will locate contemporary debates in digital society within the broader sociological field, paying particular attention to sociology’s long-standing interest in social inequalities, social relations, political economy, social change, power, and more. This module is divided into four blocks across ten weeks of study: foundations; space and time; everyday life; and hopes and fears. The module will be taught via lectures and discussion-based tutorials and will be assessed via the creation of a short podcast recording.

This first-year Sociology course unit aims to introduce students to key concepts, issues, and debates in digital sociology. Students will consider how digital sociology both extends and upends traditional sociological theories, methods, practices, and areas of study. Drawing upon theoretical and empirical developments within digital sociology, this module will locate contemporary debates in digital society within the broader sociological field, paying particular attention to sociology’s long-standing interest in social inequalities, social relations, political economy, social change, power, and more. This module is divided into four blocks across ten weeks of study: foundations; space and time; everyday life; and hopes and fears. The module will be taught via lectures and discussion-based tutorials and will be assessed  via the creation of a short podcast recording.

Upon completion of the module, students will be able to:
1. Identify and describe key concepts and debates in digital sociology.
2. Consider the similarities and differences between “pre-digital” and “post-digital” sociologies.
3. Apply key debates and concepts in digital sociology to empirical examples and contexts. 
4. Critically reflect upon the relationship between digital technologies and the social world.
5. Utilise the method of ‘podcasting’ to analyse key concepts and debates in digital sociology and consider their applicability to empirical contexts and examples from the social world
 

The course explores four key areas: foundations of digital sociology; space and time; everyday life; and hopes and fears. The specific issues addressed in each area may vary year by year. Below is a general indication of the kinds of material that might be covered in each topic area.  

• What is digital sociology?  
• How do we research the digital?  
• Networks, mobilities, and flows  
• Digital technologies and time  
• The digital self  
• Digital intimacies  
• Stuff and things  
• Activism and social change  
• Platforms, labour, and capital  
• Data, knowledge, and power  

Lectures - 20 hours of lectures, 1x 2hr lecture x10, synchronous, e-learning use of Menti.
Tutorials - 10 hours of discussion-based tutorials, asynchronous e-learning use of Padlet.
 

Identify and describe key concepts and debates in digital sociology.

Consider the similarities and differences between “pre-digital” and “post-digital” sociologies.

Apply key debates and concepts in digital sociology to empirical examples and contexts.

Critically reflect upon the relationship between digital technologies and the social world.

Develop arguements.

Utilise the method of ‘podcasting’ to analyse key concepts and debates in digital sociology.

Formative assessment:

Podcast Plan (500 words)

Summative assessment:

Podcast
For this assessment, students will  write, produce, and record a 10-minute podcast (equivalent of 1,500 words) that introduces listeners to one of the key weekly themes of the module and applies that theme to empirical examples and foundational debates in sociology: 100%

Written feedback provided via Canvas/or alternative online VLE platform. 

Couldry, N. (2012) Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Daniels, J., Gregory, K. and Cottom, T. M. (2017) Digital Sociologies, Bristol: Policy Press.

Dijck, J. van (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. New York: Oxford University Press.

Housley, W, Adam, and Fitzgerald, R. (2023) The SAGE Handbook of Digital Society. London: Sage.

Lupton, D. (2015) Digital Sociology. London: Routledge.

Marres, N. (2017) Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Orton-Johnson, K. and Prior, N. (2013) Digital Sociology: Critical Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Selwyn, N. (2019) What is Digital Sociology?. Cambridge: Polity Press.