Digital sociology provides the tools to investigate, analyze, and understand the impact, development, and use of technology and the ways it is incorporated into social worlds, institutions, and the constitution of the self and body. Multiple social, cultural, and political aspects of the digital society will be addressed, and various important studies and research related to these topics will be discussed. Topics will include the knowledge economy and big data, rethinking research in the digital era, the digitalization of education, various uses of digital technology, digital politics and civic participation, surveillance policies, privacy, telemedicine, and telehealth.
The course aims to provide the tools to investigate, analyze, and understand the impact, development, and use of digital technology and the ways it is incorporated into social worlds, institutions, and the constitution of the self and body. By the end of the course, students should be able to: a) address multiple social, cultural, and political aspects of the digital society; b) understand the knowledge economy and the role of big data; c) rethink research in the digital era; d) respond to the challenges posed by surveillance policies to privacy needs.
Students with certification of DSA (Specific Learning Disabilities), disabilities, or other special educational needs are advised to contact both the contact person, Prof. Aristide Canepa (aristide.canepa@unige.it), and the course instructor at the beginning of the course. This will allow for the arrangement of teaching and examination methods that, while respecting the course objectives, take into account individual learning styles and provide appropriate compensatory tools. For more information, please refer to the following Unige webpage: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/studenti-disabilità-informazioni-utili.
To better understand the contents of the course, it is necessary to have basic knowledge of sociology. For those who wish to review the fundamental concepts, it is recommended to read the textbook Introduction to Sociology by Frank Van Tubergen.
In-person and online lectures via Teams platform, group research lab activities. The code for access will be communicated on Aulaweb.
I will upload on Aulaweb the slides used during the lectures, further study materials (articles from Italian and international periodicals, weeklies, etc.) and some optional readings to help understanding of the different topics.
This course addresses the main sociological challenges related to the expansion of the digital society, the policies concerning the management and development of digital tools in daily life, and the sociological research tools to investigate the digital world and its connections with the physical world. The course aims to equip students with the tools to understand some of the major contemporary social issues.
From a global and comparative perspective, the course covers a rich variety of sociological topics related to the digital world, such as surveillance, communication, education, social relationships, work, digital poverty, and telemedicine.
The course includes classroom lectures, group work, student presentations with in-depth exploration of the topics covered in class, classroom discussions, and the viewing of audio-visual materials.
Particular emphasis will be placed on group projects, where students will investigate, analyze, and understand a sociological phenomenon identified at the beginning of the course.
For students attending the course:Digital Sociology, Deboarh Lupton, 2014, Routledge.
For students non attending the course Digital Sociology and three articles chosen between:
1) Antonio Maturo, "Vite misurate". Il quantified self e la salute digitale in "SOCIOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE " 48/2014, pp 60-67, DOI: 10.3280/SC2014-048006.
2) Eugenio Santoro, La comunicazione della salute attraverso i social media e le applicazioni / in "Sociologia della comunicazione : 48, 2, 2014, Milano : Franco Angeli, 2014 , 1972-4926 - Casalini id: 3014982" - P. 39-46.
3) Gea Ducci, Pianificare la comunicazione dei servizi di e-Health : attori, sistemi, relazioni : il caso del Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico / in "Sociologia della comunicazione : 48, 2, 2014, Milano : Franco Angeli, 2014 , 1972-4926 - Casalini id: 3014982" - P. 26-38.
4) LOMBI, LINDA. “LA RICERCA SOCIALE AL TEMPO DEI BIG DATA: SFIDE E PROSPETTIVE.” Studi Di Sociologia, vol. 53, no. 2, 2015, pp. 215–27. JSTOR,
5) Giorgio Pirina Lavoro di piattaforma e indebolimento della società salariale : il caso del food delivery bolognese / in "Sociologia del lavoro : 163, 2, 2022, Milano : Franco Angeli, 2022 , 1972-554X
6) Vincenzo Carbone, Roberto Ciccarelli Piattaforme digitali, politiche sociali e occupazionali : il case management nel "reddito di cittadinanza" in Italia / in "Sociologia del lavoro : 163, 2, 2022, Milano : Franco Angeli, 2022
NICCOLO' MORELLI (President)
PAOLO PARRA SAIANI
LUCA RAFFINI
AGOSTINO MASSA (President Substitute)
