THE SOCIOLOGY
AND POLITICS
OF THE
DIGITAL AGE
COURSE SYLLABUS
Dr. Cian O’Donovan
UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies
V2-2023-09-26
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | 2023-24 SESSION
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Poli9cs of the Digital Age 2023-24
THE SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICS
OF THE DIGITAL AGE
W
elcome – in this joint undergraduate and postgraduate module students will
engage critically with the sociology and politics of our digital age. This means
students and tutors will work together to understand how digital technologies,
systems, infrastructures and platforms shape everyday life. And in turn, how digital
technologies are themselves influenced by the social, economic, cultural and political
situations in which they are created, deployed and used.
As we go, we’ll look at how materials and technologies such as lithium, semiconductors,
software, small and big data, ai, large language models, social media and internet apps
influence people, groups and cultures in different ways, often with unforeseen and unfair
consequences. We’ll ask who benefits from digital life, who gets to make decisions about
it, and with what implications for individuals, groups and democracy.
Throughout the module we will draw on ideas, theories and methods from science and
technology studies as well as related disciplines such as history, sociology, political and
cultural theory and human geography. We will apply these thinking tools across a range
of case studies and controversies and with them draw out issues of power, politics,
diverse perspectives, identities and human values.
This module is not about the future. Instead, our focus is on digital technologies and
systems today, how they have been shaped both by contested imaginations of
tomorrow’s world, and steered by historical events, contingencies and interests along the
way. These explorations will open up conversations about why our digital age looks like
this, and how it could be different.
— Cian O’Donovan, September 2023
COURSE INFORMATION
Building on initial module ideas and development by Dr. Simon Lock
Front image credit: Ola Michalec, Mary Hart, Joe Bourne 2023, Electric Feels project, funded by PETRAS!
Moodle Web site:
https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=35001
Assessment:
One piece of coursework (Essay - 3000 words)
Timetable:
https://timetable.ucl.ac.uk/
Prerequisites:
No prerequisites
Required texts:
No required texts - please review weekly reading guides for each session
Course tutor:
Course convenor: Dr Cian O’Donovan
Contact:
c.o’[email protected]
Web:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/people/dr-cian-odonovan
Office location:
22 Gordon Square, basement
Office hours:
Wednesdays 09:30-10:30
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
This course aims to introduce students to social and political thinking about how the world shapes
digital technologies and how digital technologies shape the world. This module will equip students
to critically examine and research the internet, digital technologies and media, digital cultures and
the social and political processes that both create and underlie them
Objectives: by the end of this module students should be able to
•
Demonstrate their understanding of key theoretical concepts from STS, sociology, political
science and cultural studies as they relate to the internet, digital technologies and services
and media.
•
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the internet, digital technologies and media, digital
cultures and the social and political processes that both create and underlie them.
•
Demonstrate an understanding the roles of structure and agency in the co-construction of
the internet and society.
•
Apply key theoretical concepts from this course to critically analyse a range of issues
(contemporary & historic) in science and technology.
•
Analyse closely, interpret and show the exercise of critical judgement in the understanding
of critical issues and controversies as well as contemporary events.
•
Be active & engaged participants in co-constructing their classrooms, responsible for their
own learning.
This module is therefore a way of consolidating the interdisciplinary research-led teaching on the
internet and digital technologies to enable students to gain a robust critical understanding of the
approaches and issues via a single module. This module is not oriented to providing definitive
answers on issues of technology, society, culture or politics. Instead, we will critically evaluate
different possibilities for understanding and intervening in digital life and consider the broader
political mechanisms that are needed to achieve the responsible adoption and regulation of digital
technologies and the people, groups, institutions and firms that use them.
Session activities
Students will explore a range of case studies against a backdrop of theory in order to achieve
the aims and objectives. Typically the first half of the session will consist of a lecture, followed by
semi structured discussion, seminar-style activities, workshops and policy debates. Students will
be encouraged to contribute in class by contributing to discussions and posting comments and
media using digital tools. Students will also be asked to collate examples ahead of class and be
prepared to discuss them in person.
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
OVERVIEW
How the module is designed
The module is designed in three parts. Sessions 1-4 will introduce the module and give a grounding in
core ideas, theories, examples, technologies and politics. In sessions 5-9 students will explore core
concepts in greater detail, each session starting from a case study located in an everyday place, providing a
diversity of situations, people and values chosen to illustrate the complexity and uncertainty of digital life. In
the final session we will reflect on what we’ve learned so far, and work together to think about how digital
technologies, people and politics might be re-configured and re-imagined - starting in the digital classroom.
Topic
About
Date
1
Critical introduction to the
digital age we live in
Introducing digital technologies, theories and themes
we’ll use to further our understanding of social life,
politics and power in the digital age
OCT
04
2
The internet. Its history and
social construction
The co-evolution of the internet and society over the
past 70 years.
OCT
11
3
Data
Understanding data, their social production, what
they represent and perform, and implications for
inequality
OCT
18
4
Infrastructure
The stuff behind the scene that makes digital stuff
work: the physical nature of digital worlds, material
culture, sustainability, digital colonialism
OCT
25
5
The care home
Health, well-being and infrastructures of care.
Perspectives from STS, feminist theories and critical
disability studies
NOV
01
READING WEEK
NO SESSION
NOV
08
6
The factory floor
Control technologies and post-automation: from
the battlefield to the factory to precarious pizza
delivery wages
NOV
15
7
Parliament
Who decides: introducing ideas about
governance, politics and participation in digital
society and digital innovation
NOV
22
8
The street demonstration
Civil society, organising, resisting, re-imagining
and transforming digital life together
NOV
29
9
The self
Guest lecturer Dr. Simon Lock will discuss issues of
identities, relations, communication
DEC
06
10
Review: from a digital age
to a digital pluriverse
Re-imagining and redesigning the digital good for
living, learning and teaching better in the digital age.
DEC
13
DEADLINE: Essay
JAN
8
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
ASSESSMENTS
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
•
The assessment for this course consists of one essay.
•
Key readings are listed in this document but there are ADDITIONAL reading suggestions for
your essays on Moodle. You are expected to read widely, beyond the readings listed here,
for your essays
•
Essays must be submitted via Moodle.
•
Undergraduate and postgraduate students should submit to their respective link
•
Please indicate the topic or question number in your file title.
•
Essays should have a maximum of 3,000 words (worth 100% of your final mark).
•
Essays should be minimum 12 point type and 1.5 line spaced. You should have a list of references
at the end (which are not part of the word count).
•
Further guidelines and criteria for undergraduate and postgraduate essays is available on the
Moodle site.
ESSAY
•
Details to be announced at session 1 and on Moodle.
Criteria for assessment
•
The departmental marking guidelines for individual items of assessment can be found in the
STS Student Handbook www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/handbook .
Using artificial intelligence services and large language model applications
In line with UCL guidance, students may use AI tools during the course of this module, and in
preparation of the assessment in an assistive role (tier 2). See tier 2 on UCL’s guidelines here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/generative-ai-hub/using-ai-tools-assessment). Further
details will be discussed in class and posted on Moodle. !
Summary
Description
Deadline
Word limit
Formative exercise (1)
Digital Postcard
Week 3
100
Formative exercise (2)
Essay abstract
Week 7
250
Essay (100 % )
Further details about the
assessment essay to be provided in
session 1.
January 8th 2024
3,000
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
READING LIST
This section provides details of the readings for each week. Under essential reading you will find
articles you are expected you to read before class. There is also recommended readings which
offer further entry-points to theories and debates you might want to explore further – a must for
your term assessment. Additional reading for the seminars, essays and exam will be posted on
Moodle where appropriate. I encourage you to also do your own research to find readings and
sources that are not included here – all student are expected to engage widely in material beyond
this list.
Text books
There is not a single textbook set for this module. However, the following volumes - available in the
library - may offer a broad, if somewhat partial account of major topics of interest.
•
Orton-Johnson, K., & Prior, N. (2013). Digital Sociology: Critical Perspectives. Palgrave
Macmillan Ltd. — Slightly dated but tidy collection of perspectives with some STS
contributions
•
Hargittai, E. (Ed.). (2021). Handbook of Digital Inequality. Edward Elgar. — Useful
collection of case studies centred on inequality
•
Marres, N. (2017). Digital Sociology: The Reinvention of Social Research. Polity. —This
book is about doing research rather than a text about the digital age itself. Useful if you want
to pursue dissertation research in this area.
Blogs, media and podcasts
You should also start taking an interest in live debates about digital society. Have a look at these
sources to get started:
•
Logic(s) Magazine - radical digital critique https://logicmag.io
•
MIT Technology Review - orthodox perspectives https://www.technologyreview.com
•
NESTA - UK innovation agency https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog
•
Living With AI Podcast: Challenges of Living with Artificial Intelligence - podcast from a large
UK research funder https://www.buzzsprout.com/1447474
•
The Santiago Boys - Evgeny Morozov’s long case study of computational technology, firms
and government - featuring STS’ own Prof. Jon Agar https://the-santiago-boys.com/
•
The Received Wisdom (Shobita Parthasarathy and UCL STS’ Jack Stilgoe) https://
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-received-wisdom/id1476334065
•
Emily Bender. Talking about a ‘schism’ is ahistorical. Medium. https://medium.com/
@emilymenonbender/talking-about-a-schism-is-ahistorical-3c454a77220f — A short
piece that offers a critical, if somewhat US-orientated reading list.
The STS 1 Book
Each year, STS asks all students and staff to read one book as a
community. Kazuo Ishiguro's "Klara and the Sun" is the STS1Book for
2023-24. We will be drawing examples from this book in lectures and
seminars, so please do have a read. More info here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/sts-current-students/sts1book-programme !
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 1
📱 Critical introduction to the digital age we live in
Information is a crucial aspect of modern cultures, economies and everyday life,
although with often significant disparities across and within countries. This lecture will
introduce key concepts and case studies that help us understand how our relationship
with information has been transformed with the introduction of digital processes and
technologies.
We’ll introduce four components central to this transformation: digitalisation, computing,
microprocessors and digital networking. But rather than simply follow the technology,
we will discuss how it is the interplay of technology, human agency and values, and
broader structures of societies that influence how the digital age has emerged and the
shape it has taken. We’ll use ideas such as co-construction, co-production and the
societal shaping of technology to explore evolving features of this age. And we’ll
discuss how competing theoretical framings such as information society, platform
capitalism, the sharing economy, surveillance capitalism, and network society highlight
certain aspects of the digital age while backgrounding others.
Students will leave the first session with an ability to already recognise and critique
some of the underlying social and political dynamics in their own digital lives which will
be workshopped in the second half of the session
Essential reading
•
Orton-Johnson, K., & Prior, N. (2013). Introduction in Orton-Johnson, K., & Prior,
N. (Eds.) Digital Sociology: Critical Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
(available online through UCL library) — Read chapter one only
•
Rice, R. E., Yates, S. J., & Blejmar, J. (2020). Introduction to the Oxford
Handbook of Digital Technology and Society: Terms, Domains, and Themes.
In S. J. Yates & R. E. Rice (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Digital Technology and
Society (p. 0). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/
9780190932596.013.1 — Read chapter one only
Recommended reading:
1. Haak, B. van der, & Mbembe, A. (2015). The Internet is Afropolitan. https://
thisisafrica.me/politics-and-society/the-internet-is-afropolitan/
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 2
🌐 The internet. Its history and social construction
What sort of thing exactly is the internet and how did it come to be like this? In this
session we’ll explore four ages of the internet, and track how its material, institutional,
economic and social constitution has evolved over time - and how cultures and societies
have evolved with it. We’ll look at how corporate power is organised in today’s internet
economy, think about how it got like this and with what implications for society.
We’ll pick up from Session 1 and continue to outline some of the major theories that
have been used to think about and shape the internet and life in and around it.
Essential reading:
•
Suchman, L. (2022). Imaginaries of omniscience: Automating intelligence in
the US Department of Defence. Social Studies of Science,
03063127221104938. https://doi.org/10/gsjhkg — Note: Lucy Suchman will be
speaking at the Departmental seminar on October 11th - see details on Moodle.
•
Leiner, B. M., Cerf, V. G.,et al. (2009). A brief history of the internet. ACM
SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 39(5), 22–31. https://doi.org/
10.1145/1629607.1629613 — Note: A very male, very US and very technology
firm driven short history of the internet, but useful to read because of this.
Recommended reading
•
Castells, M. (2003). The Internet galaxy: Reflections on the Internet,
Business, and Society. Oxford University Press. — available through the UCL
Library. The introduction especially is worth reading for today’s session
•
Doctorow, C. (2023). Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification. https://pluralistic.net/
2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/
•
Schwab, K., (2021, Feb 26). ‘This is bigger than just Timnit’: How Google tried
to silence a critic and ignited a movement. Fast Company. https://
www.fastcompany.com/90608471/timnit-gebru-google-ai-ethics-equitable-tech-
movement
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
Note: Readings for lectures beyond week three may be subject to alterations prior to the
start of term. Please do keep an eye on Moodle for the definitive reading list and lecture
preparation information.
SESSION 3
💽 Data
Long before digital technologies existed data played a critical role in categorising and
ordering life. This session is about understanding data and how they are produced
socially, how decisions about what and who counts as data are often deeply political,
and how resulting data in turn produces and shapes new social orders. We’ll also
introduce ideas about ethics and their limits; data justice; data and representation and
data and colonial practices.
Essential reading:
•
Singh, R. (2020). Study the Imbrication: A Methodological Maxim to Follow
the Multiple Lives of Data. In S. Mertia (Ed.), Lives of data: Essays on
Computational Cultures from India (pp. 51–59). The Institute of Network Cultures. "
https://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/LivesofData.pdf
•
Smallman, M. (2019). Policies designed for drugs won’t work for AI. Nature,
567(7746), 7. https://doi.org/10/gfwdqc
Recommended reading
1. Gray, J. (2018). Three Aspects of Data Worlds. Krisis, 38(1), 4–17. https://
archive.krisis.eu/issue-1-2018-data-activism/
2. Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s
Relation to the Contemporary Subject. Television & New Media, 20(4), 336–
349. https://doi.org/10/gfj88j
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 4
⚡ Infrastructure
Infrastructure works behind the scenes to keep the digital world working. It's the fibre
optic cables, satellites and server farms that speed data around the planet. But it's also
the standards, human values and rules of the game that influence how technology
benefits some people and not others.
In this session we'll discuss the role infrastructures play in embedding chatbots, robots
and ai in the real world. And how these technologies might be configured to improve the
lives of people who depend on public services like social care - or make them worse.
Science and technology studies has a rich set of concepts for thinking about
infrastrucutre. We’ll use some of these to explore the systems of support that services
like generative AI rely on, but rarely acknowledge publicly.
Essential reading:
•
Star, S. L., & Strauss, A. (1999). Layers of silence, arenas of voice: The
ecology of visible and invisible work. Computer Supported Cooperative Work
(CSCW), 8, 9–30. https://doi.org/10/bkczng
•
Perrigo, B. (2023). Exclusive: The $2 Per Hour Workers Who Made ChatGPT
Safer. Time. https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/
•
Murgia, M. (2023, July 23). Transformers: The Google scientists who
pioneered an AI revolution. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/
37bb01af-ee46-4483-982f-ef3921436a50 "
(you can register through the university for free FT access)
Recommended reading
•
Gray, J., Gerlitz, C., & Bounegru, L. (2018). Data infrastructure literacy. Big
Data and Society, 5(2), 205395171878631. https://doi.org/10/gfc9pt
•
Whittaker, M. (2023). Origin Stories: Plantations, Computers, and Industrial
Control. Logic(s) Magazine, 1(19). https://logicmag.io/supa-dupa-skies/origin-
stories-plantations-computers-and-industrial-control/
•
Star, S. L. (1999). The ethnography of infrastructure. American Behavioral
Scientist, 43(3), 377–391. https://doi.org/10/b7hh4b
Supporting resources
•
Design for Justice: Disabled Hackers are Leading the Way (July 16 2019),
Laura Flanders Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQfuD_oj8E
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 5
🏠 The care home
As birthrates fall in the UK and elsewhere, populations age, and migration policies
impede the flow of potential carers, technology seems to offer a solution to the need for
care. But can robots or ai really replace the human touch, and even if they can, should
they? In this session we’ll look at how imaginations of technological control and human
and more-than-human care collide in places like care homes, hospitals and clinics. We’ll
talk about ideas, cases and perspectives from STS, feminist theories and critical
disability studies. And we’ll discuss how ideas of wellbeing and anxiety and who is
responsible for them have evolved in recent decades.
Essential reading:
•
Sadowski, J., Strengers, Y., & Kennedy, J. (2021). More work for Big Mother:
Revaluing care and control in smart homes. Environment and Planning A:
Economy and Space, 0308518X211022366. https://doi.org/10/gkmz5n
•
O’Donovan, C. (2023). Evaluating post-pandemic plans for social care data
infrastructures. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8197546
Recommended reading
1. Cresswell, K., Cunningham-Burley, S., & Sheikh, A. (2018). Health Care
Robotics: Qualitative Exploration of Key Challenges and Future Directions.
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(7). https://doi.org/10/gdst53
2. Goggin, G., (2018). ‘Disability and Digital Inequalities: Rethinking Digital Divides
with Disability Theory’ in Theorizing Digital Divides (Routledge).
3. Department of Health and Social Care. (2022). Data saves lives: Reshaping
health and social care with data. HM Government. https://www.gov.uk/
government/publications/data-saves-lives-reshaping-health-and-social-care-
with-data/data-saves-lives-reshaping-health-and-social-care-with-data — This
is a government policy paper. Using the concepts and thinking tools developed
on the module so far, can you critically review this document - what are the core
themes and how does it understand data and digitalisation in care sectors?
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 6
🏭 The factory floor
Who delivers your pizza, do they get sick leave and what about full pension
entitlements? In this session we’ll take a look at work in the digital age, tracing logics of
employer/employee automation and control from the battlefield, to the factory floor to the
city streets of London and beyond.
We’ll use this discussion to consider issues of surveillance, automation and control in the
workplace more generally. Who actually benefits when these technologies, designed to
further accuracy and efficiency, are unleashed on the factory floor and elsewhere.
Finally, we’ll also consider alternatives to automated ‘logics of control’, to places like
hacker spaces and fab labs where people may be seizing and repurposing alternative
means of production, furthering goals of fairness, equality and sustainability.
Essential reading:
•
Vallas, S., & Schor, J. B. (2020). What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the
Gig Economy. Annual Review of Sociology, 46(1), 273–294. https://doi.org/
10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054857
•
Smith, A., & Fressoli, M. (2021). Post-automation. Futures. https://doi.org/10/
gkm4d7
Recommended reading
•
Ghosh, A. (2023). If You Have an Enemy, Then Buy Them a Car: Gig Workers
vs. Multinational Corporations in India. Logic(s) Magazine, 1(19). https://
logicmag.io/supa-dupa-skies/if-you-have-an-enemy-then-buy-them-a-car-gig-
workers-vs-multinational
•
Umer, H. (2021). Illusory freedom of physical platform workers: Insights
from Uber Eats in Japan. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 32(3),
437–452. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304621992466
o Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2016). The rise of the platform economy. Issues in
Science and Technology, 32(3), 61. https://brie.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/
kenney-zysman-the-rise-of-the-platform-economy-spring-2016-istx.pdf
Supporting resources for the seminar
1. Please read these BBC articles on the Horizon Post Office scandal and Inquiry
a. Post Office scandal: What the Horizon saga is all about "
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56718036
b. Fujitsu: How a Japanese firm became part of the Post Office scandal "
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61020075
2. Then browse this list of supporting articles
a. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c9580685e57t
3. In class, we will review the findings of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
a. https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/reports-and-statements !
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 7
🗳 Parliament
A feature of the digital age that we’ve covered in depth by now is the economic growth
and out-sized influence of a small number of huge firms such as Apple, Microsoft,
Amazon and Alphabet – Google’s parent company. In democratic systems such as the
UK, EU and US, the government plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining laws,
regulation and policy that seeks to balance the interests of these firms and their
shareholders with those of the public. What exactly that looks like often a matter of
intense lobbying, complex special interests and conflicts over whose voices and visions
of what a digital society should look like count.
In this session we’ll cover ideas about citizenship, governance, politics and participation
in digital society and in digital innovation.
Essential reading:
•
Wylie, B. (2020, May). In Toronto, Google’s Attempt to Privatize Government
Fails—For Now. Boston Review. https://bostonreview.net/politics/bianca-wylie-
no-google-yes-democracy-toronto
•
Birch, K., Chiappetta, M., Artyushina, A., 2020. The problem of innovation in
technoscientific capitalism: data rentiership and the policy implications of
turning personal digital data into a private asset. Policy Studies. https://
doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2020.1748264
Recommended reading
1. Ada Lovelace Institute. (2021). Participatory data stewardship. A framework
for involving people in the use of data. Ada Lovelace Institute. https://
www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/report/participatory-data-stewardship/
2. National Data Guardian and Understanding Patient Data. (2021). Putting Good
into Practice. A public dialogue on making public benefit assessments
when using health and care data. National Data Guardian and Understanding
Patient Data.
Supporting resources
1. An overview of the EU’s Digital Decade policies: https://digital-
strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/europes-digital-decade
2. UK Digital Strategy 2022 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uks-
digital-strategy/uk-digital-strategy
3. National AI Strategy—HTML version. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/
publications/national-ai-strategy/national-ai-strategy-html-version!
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 8
🚧 The street demonstration
This session is about the role of civil society grassroots digital action online and in the
real world. We will look at how some groups and communities are using digital means
to organise and take part in democratic struggles – from issues of climate justice, to
trade agreements to gender equality. We will also look at groups that are organising to
resist the harmful effects of large technology firms and digitally mediated hate groups
such as far right in Europe and elsewhere.
Essential reading:
•
Benjamin, R., (2019). “Retooling solidarity, reimagining justice” In Race after
Tec hno lo gy ( Pol ity ), p p 98- 114. ( av ai lab le on li ne vi a UCL l ib rar y)
•
O’Donovan, C. (2022). Collective capabilities for resisting far-right
extremism online and in the real world. Journal of Peer Production, 15.
peerproduction.net/issues/issue-15-transition/peer-reviewed-papers/collective-
capabilities-for-resisting-far-right-extremism-online-and-in-the-real-world/
Recommended reading
1. Freelon, D., Bossetta, M., Wells, C., Lukito, J., Xia, Y., & Adams, K. (2020).
“Black Trolls Matter: Racial and Ideological Asymmetries in Social Media
Disinformation”. Social Science Computer Review. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0894439320914853
•
Kennedy, H. (2018). Living with Data: Aligning Data Studies and Data
Activism Through a Focus on Everyday Experiences of Datafication. Krisis,
38(1), 18–30. https://archive.krisis.eu/issue-1-2018-data-activism/
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 9
🦾 The self
How might we understand the inter-relationship between digital technologies and
identities? How have technologies in the digital age changed or influenced the way we
think about ourselves?# In this class we will consider the ways in which digital
technologies (predominantly the internet, social media and AI) have shaped, and are
shaped by culture, technoscience and capitalism - from historical ideas of techno hybrid
cyborg futures, to the commodification of selves via surveillance capitalism to the ways
in which structural inequalities and normative cultural scripts around gender, race and
sexualities are often hardwired into digital technologies inhibiting social justice.
Essential reading:
•
Ruha Benjamin (2019) Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New
Jim Code. Introduction (available online via UCL library)
•
Dillon, S., & Collett, C. (2019). AI and gender: Four proposals for future
research. ‘Research Theme 1: Bridging Gender Theory and AI Practice’ pp.
8-12 http://lcfi.ac.uk/media/uploads/files/
AI_and_Gender___4_Proposals_for_Future_Research.pdf
Recommended reading
•
to be confirmed
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
SESSION 10
🧩 Review:
In this final session we’ll briefly recap some of the core ideas and controversies we’ve
studied this term. We’ll use this reflective time to begin to think how we could answer the
following question: how can we re-imagine and redesign the very idea of the digital good
for living, learning and teaching better in the digital age. We’ll think about the digital
classroom as a place of radical change
Essential reading:
•
UCL’s report on generative ai use amongst students https://www.ucl.ac.uk/
teaching-learning/case-studies/2023/aug/listening-students-perspectives-
generative-ai
•
Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Introduction: #TravelingWhileTrans, Design
Justice, and Escape from the Matrix of Domination. In Design justice. MIT
Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12255.003.0004
•
Escobar, A. (2011). Sustainability: Design for the Pluriverse. Development,
54(2), 137–140. https://doi.org/10/dvgvv4
Recommended reading
1. Mbembe, A. (2012). At the centre of the knot. Social Dynamics, 38(1), 8–14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2012.699243
2. Zimmerman, T. A. (2018). Twenty Years of Turnitin: In an Age of Big Data,
Even Bigger Questions Remain. The 2017 Intellectual Property Annual, 14–22.
3. Escobar, A. (2020). Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence,
Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Duke University Press.
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24
Course expectations
In order to be deemed ‘complete’ on this module students must attempt the essay.
Important policy information
Details of college and departmental policies relating to modules and assessments can be found in
the STS Student Handbook www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/handbook
All students taking modules in the STS department are expected to read these policies
Image on final page from Tactical Tech’s ‘Our Image Our Selves’ project
HPSC0165 | HPSC0034 | The Sociology and Politics of the Digital Age 2023-24