Cavanagh A. Sociology in the Age of the Internet
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SOCIOLOGY
IN
THE AGE OF
THE INTERNET
SOCIOLOGY
IN
THE AGE OF
THE
INTERNET
Allison Cavanagh
•
Open
University
Press
Open
University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
Shoppenhangers
Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
England
SL62QL
email: enquiries@openup.co.uk
world wide web:
www.openup
.co.uk
and
Two
Penn
Plaza, New York,
NY
10121-2289,
USA
First
published
2007
Copyright
© Allison
Cavanagh
2007
All
rights reserved. Except for
the
quotation
of
short
passages for
the
purpose
of
criticism
and
review,
no
part
of
this
publication
may
be reproduced, stored
in
a retrieval
system, or
transmitted,
in
any
form
or
by
any
means,
electronic, mechanical,
photocopying,
recording
or
otherwise,
without
the
prior
written
permission
of
the
publisher
or
a licence from
the
Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details
of
such
licences (for reprographic reproduction)
may
be
obtained
from
the
Copyright
Licensing
Agency Ltd
of
Saffron House,
6-10
Kirby Street,
London,
EC1N
8TS.
A catalogue record of
this
book
is available from
the
British Library
ISBN-13: 9780335217250 (pb) 9780335217267 (hb)
ISBN-lO: 0335217257 (pb) 0335217265 (hb)
Typeset
by
BookEns Limited, Royston, Herts.
Printed
in
Printed
in
Poland
by
Oz Graf S.
A.
www.polskabook.pl
The
McGraw'HiII
Companies
Contents
Series editor's preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part
One
The
rise
of
the
network
metaphor
1
Approaches
to
networks
2
Network
methodologies
3 The
network
society
4 The
internet
as a
network
Part
Two
The
internet
as a
medium
Introduction
to
Part
Two
5
Elements
of
a
public
sphere
6
Interactivity:
it's
got
to
be
jelly
'cos
jam
don't
shake
like
that
7 The
global
public
sphere
and
forms
of
power
Part
Three
The
internet
as a
social
space
Introduction
to
Part
Three
8
Community
9
Online
identity
Conclusion
to
Part
Three
Part
Four
The
internet
as a
technology
Introduction
to
Part
Four
10
Sociologies
of
technology
11
The
sociology
of
technology
and
the
internet:
emergent
perspectives
References
Index
vi
viii
1
23
27
38
48
64
81
92
102
120
132
139
151
164
00
To
my mother, with all
my
love.
Series editor's preface
In
response
to
perceived major transformations, social theorists have offered
forceful,
appealing,
but
contrasting
accounts
of
the
predicament
of
contemporary
western societies
and
the
implications for social life
and
personal well-being. The speculative
and
general theses proposed
by
social
theorists
must
be subject
to
evaluation
in
the
light of
the
best available
evidence if
they
are
to
serve
as
guides
to
understanding
and
modifying social
arrangements. The focus
of
the
series is
the
critical appraisal
of
general,
substantive theories
through
examination
of
their
applicability
to
different
institutional
areas
of
contemporary
societies. Each
book
introduces key
current
debates
and
surveys
of
existing sociological
argument
and
research
about
institutional complexes
in
advanced societies.
Allison Cavanagh's
book
addresses a technological
innovation
whose
impact
upon
societies has
been
enormous
and
which
looks sets
to
continue:
the
internet. The
book
is
divided
into
four parts,
which
discuss
the
internet,
respectively,
as
a network,
as
a form of (communication) media, as a social
space
and
as a technology. This
neat
division allows
the
author
to
explore,
in
detail,
the
multidimensional
nature
of
the
internet
and
its impact,
as
well as
the
quite diverse debates
that
it
has sparked. The result
is
a fascinating
discussion,
which
serves
both
to
introduce newcomers
to
this exciting field
of
investigation
and
to
carve
out
a persuasive position
within
it. Allison
Cavanagh opens
her
account
with
the
claim
that
'Studies of
the
internet
often
become obsolete between writing
and
publication.' This is surely true,
at
one
level, given
the
pace
of
change
in
both
the
technology
and
the
uses
that
social
actors find for it. Analytic frameworks, if solid
and
insightful, however,
do
not
and
need
not
change
at
quite
the
same pace. They have
the
potential
for
enduring
significance. We believe
that
Sociology
in
the
Age
of
the
Internet has
this
potential
and
will
remain
a central
point
of reference
in
both
research
and
teaching for
many
years
to
come.
Acknowledgements
With
grateful
thanks
to
Nick Crossley,
who
inspired this
book
in
the
first
place
and
whose advice
on
earlier drafts has improved
the
work immeasur-
ably. Staff at
the
Institute of
Communications
Studies (ICS), University
of
Leeds, encouraged
me
in
writing this
and
supported a period
of
study leave. I
should
particularly like
to
thank
Robin Brown for
helping
me
to
reorganize
my
commitments
and
stepping
into
the
breach himself
to
allow
me
to
complete
the
work
on
it. Paul Taylor, Katherine Sarakakis
and
Richard
Howells have helped
me
keep
my
spirits up,
and
Steve Lax particularly helped
me
ground
and
clarify
my
ideas
around
technology. I
should
also like
to
thank
students
taking
my
first-year course
at
ICS,
who
were supportive
and
generous
with
their
feedback
when
I road-tested these materials
with
them,
and
who
have helped
me
to
keep
my
enthusiasm
for
the
project alive
throughout.
Any bloopers are,
of
course,
my
own. SpeCial
thanks
are due
to
Mark Barrett
and
Chris
Cudmore
at
McGraw-Hill for their
support
and
encouragement. Thanks also
to
Dr Maria Touri,
who
kept
me
on
track
by
threatening
to
read it. My
mother
and
my
sister, Amanda, have listened,
consoled, helped
me
stay focused,
and
brought
me
down
to
earth
when
some
of
my
wilder ideas were
on
their
annual
migration. Finally, a special debt
of
gratitude
to
Alex Dennis,
my
long-suffering partner, for sitting
through
the
umpteenth
'going
on'
of
the
day
with
saintly
patience,
offering his
considerable expertise
in
leading
me
out
of
a myriad of
blind
alleys,
and
whose insights
often
turned
the
work
in
new,
and
better, directions.
Without
Alex,
no
book.