Undergraduate Course: The Internet and Society (SCIL10056)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Sociology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Is Internet changing sociology? How are core assumptions embedded in the received notions of interaction and situatedness challenged by electronically mediated encounters and fields such as social media sites and other upcoming Web 2.0 technologies?
Social scientists are after a general theory of all types of interaction and try to avoid what might be called &«flip flop&ª social analysis: one form of sociology for studying the offline world and then &«flip&ª to another for the online world. The tendency to conceive of the digital as simply and exclusively digital and the non-digital as simply and exclusively that, filters out alternative conceptualizations, thereby precluding a more complex reading of the impact of digitization on material and place-bound conditions.
The course will provide reasons why flip flop social analyses have to be avoided and an overview of the different scholarly attempts to avoid so. First, we will discuss perspectives by which when it comes to the online world no major shift of sociological framing is required. According to the proponents of this perspective, this is due either because the consequences of Internet for the social life, and for social theory, have been exaggerated or because offline interaction can be equally technologically mediated. In this case, familiar notions from the sociology of interaction such as &«copresence&ª, &«increments&ª, &«reciprocation&ª &«imitative behavior&ª &«norms&ª, &«commitments&ª, &«obligations&ª, &«value&ª and &«reputations&ª are conceived to be of use in studying online worlds.
In the second part of the course, we will review authors arguing that the assumptions that have characterized much microsociological thinking in the past are theoretically no longer adequate in a world in which interaction can also be disembedded from local spaces. In this latter case, notions that draw on microsociology have to be extended to capture global social forms. A distinction between embodied presence and response presence is introduced, together with the notion of face-to-screen situation.
Finally we will present a third and last way of thinking the relationship between internet and society. According to this third perspective, technological mediation in online interactions is radically different from that taking place offline. Rather, if this difference is underrated this is because of the (micro) sociological lens applied to the understanding of technologically mediated fields of interaction.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Sociology or closely related courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
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| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| Central | Lecture | | 1-11 | | | | 09:00 - 10:50 | |
| First Class |
Week 1, Thursday, 09:00 - 10:50, Zone: Central. Seminar Room 5, Basement, Chrystal Macmillan Building |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| Critical understanding of received notions of sociology of interaction deriving from micro-sociology and ethnomethodology. |
Assessment Information
Short paper (25%) and long essay (75%)
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gian Campagnolo
Tel: (0131 6)51 4273
Email: g.campagnolo@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Sue Renton
Tel: (0131 6)50 6958
Email: Sue.Renton@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 16 January 2012 6:47 am
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