Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology

Digital media are normal. But this was not always true. For a long time, lay discourse, academic exhortations, pop culture narratives, and advocacy groups constructed new Information and communications technologies (ICTs) as exceptional. Whether they were believed to be revolutionary, dangerous, rife with opportunity, or other-worldly, these tools and technologies were framed as extraordinary. But digital media are now mundane, thoroughly embedded - and often unquestioned - in everyday life. Digital ICTs are enmeshed in health and wellness, work and organizations, elections, capital flows, intimate relationships, social movements, and even our own identities. And although the study of these technologies has always been interdisciplinary - at the crossroads of computer science, cultural studies, science and technology studies, and communications - never has a sociological perspective been more valuable. Sociology has always excelled at helping us re-see the normal. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Media Sociology is a perfect point of entry for those curious about the state of sociological research on digital media. Each chapter reviews the sociological research that has been done thus far and points towards unanswered questions. The 34 chapters in the Handbook are arranged in six sections which look at digital media as they relate to: theory, social institutions, everyday life, community and identity, social inequalities, and politics & power. More than ever, the contributors to this volume help make it a centralizing resource, pulling together the various strands of sociological research focused on digital media. In addition to providing a distinctly sociological center for those scholars looking to find their way in the subfield, the volume offers top sociological research that provides an overview of digital media to explain our quickly changing world to a broader public. Readers will find it accessible enough for use in class, and thorough enough for seasoned professionals interested in a concise update in their areas of interest.

Deana A. Rohlinger is a Professor of Sociology at Florida State University with expertise in political participation, political change and digital technologies. She is author of Abortion Politics, Mass Media and Social Movements in America (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and New Media and Society (New York University Press, 2019) as well as dozens of research articles and book chapters that analyze topics as diverse as the kinds of claims individuals make in the emails they sent Jeb Bush about the Terri Schiavo case to collective identity processes in MoveOn.org and the Tea Party Movement. Her most recent articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Signs, Mobilization, New Media & Society, and Social Media + Society. Rohlinger has co-edited three volumes: Strategy in Action: Movements and Social Change (University of Minnesota Press, 2012), Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change: Special Issue on Media, Movements, and Political Change (2012), and Emerald Studies in Media and Communication: Social Movements and Mass Media (2017), guest-edited two journals (Information, Communication & Society in 2018 and the American Behavioral Scientist in 2009), served as the book review editor for the journal Mobilization (2012-2018), and was the editor of the section on Social Movements for Sociology Compass (2012-2015). Rohlinger chaired the American Sociological Association's Communication, Information Technologies and Media Sociology section (2018-2019) and is chair-elect for the Collective Behavior, Social Movements section. She has been interviewed on a range of topics including digital politics and controversies involving Planned Parenthood as well as written commentaries for a variety of media outlets including U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, The American Prospect, and The Conversation. Her body of research was recently honored with the 2021 William F. Ogburn Mid-Career Achievement Award from the Communications and Information Technologies and Media Sociology section of the American Sociological Association. Sarah Sobieraj is Professor of Sociology at Tufts University and a Faculty Associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Her most recent book, Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020), examines the impact of identity-based digital abuse on women's participation in social and political discourse. She is also the author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Jeff Berry, and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (NYU Press, 2011). Sobieraj also edited (with Rob Boatright, Danna Young, and Tim Schaffer) A Crisis of Civility: Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019). Her most recent journal articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Social Problems, PS: Political Science & Politics, Poetics, Political Communication, and Sociological Theory. Her work has been featured in venues such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Politico, Vox, CNN, PBS, NPR, The American Prospect, National Review, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and Salon. Sobieraj serves on the advisory board of the Social Science Research Council's Disinformation Research Mapping Initiative and a member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network.