A place to stand: Digital sociology and the Archimedean effect

Abstract

With the advent of the internet, particularly Web 2.0, sociologists have been called to take up the challenges and the promises of the web. In the face of this, sociologists are caught up in debates and practices concerned with how to ethically approach and develop appropriate methods/methodologies for the field. While these are important endeavours, more robust debate needs to take place on the unintended consequences of the promises of the internet, as well as the power relations that are at play in what we term the 'digital social'. Employing the metaphor of the Archimedean screw and Archimedean point, this article argues that the space we now find ourselves in is unprecedented; it is one which simultaneously demands the empowerment of research and yet results in the stripping away of its foundation. The Archimedean effect demonstrates that the promises of the internet have not been fulfilled resulting in the evolution and de-evolution of the digital social framed by the reinforcement of existing power relations. Yet, rather than viewing this as a time of crisis, we should see it as a defining moment for our discipline, one where the demands of public sociology need to be adopted broadly.

Digitainability—Digital Competences Post-COVID-19 for a Sustainable Society

“…The access to them, the quantity and quality of information individuals have access to and the capacity to produce content varies according to social class, age level, gender, culture and other personal features. These differences can lead to inequalities in a certain social reproduction [7,9] and unequal power relationships [7,118]. Nascimento [9] (p. 672) argues that although the massification of digital social networks and the access to information have underlying forms of democratic participation and freedom of expression, they entail the danger of "reproducing or even exacerbating forms of discrimination and attempts to silence socially discriminated groups".…”

“…For all the above reasons, an interdisciplinary effort is needed to promote digital literacy [71,118,136].…”

Sociology and Digital Culture

“…This new world, given its complexity, implies a closer relationship between Sociology and other scientific areas (Di Giacomo et al, 2018;Serpa et al, 2017;Ignatow & Robinson 2017;Dewey, 2017;DeSousa, McConatha, & Lynch, 2011;Possamai-Inesedy & Nixon, 2017).…”

“…In addition to ethical issues of a more general nature involved in any investigative process and its dissemination (Lima, 2006;Ferreira & Serpa, 2018b), the big data as information produced by researchers' activity, in terms of the level of their individual privacy and access, may raise ethical dilemmas that need reflection for their novelty and dimension (Witte, 2012;Possamai-Inesedy & Nixon, 2017, Flores-Má rquez, 2016Baldi, 2017).…”

“…All this affects the very interaction between individuals in time and space (Norman, Tjomsland, & Huegel, 2016;Jaramillo & Zuluaga, 2014;Dewey, 2017;Hinojo-Lucena et al, 2019;Shaffer, 2014). This change has, necessarily, implications in Sociology as a science that should be considered (Dewey, 2017;Possamai-Inesedy, & Nixon, 2017;Witte, 2012;Guillé n-Rascón, Ascensio-Baca, & Tarango, 2016):…”