[ecrea] Call for chapter: Theorizing Digital Divide

Call for Chapter Proposals for an Edited Volume on

“Theorizing Digital Divides”

Editors: Massimo Ragnedda, Northumbria Univ. (UK)

Glenn W. Muschert, Miami Univ. (USA)





As more aspects of social life are migrating and expanding on-line, 
systems of structured inequalities are now well-entrenched and 
replicated in the digital sphere. However, the development of the 
theoretical aspect of digital divide studies has lagged behind the 
development of more empirical studies.  Traditional studies of digital 
divides have tended to be macro in scope, and often convey flavour of 
government reporting on infrastructure and electronic capacities.  Of 
course, there are many exceptions among scholars working in a variety of 
fields, however even given a variety of national and cultural 
perspectives from which such studies emerge, the theoretical 
underpinnings of such studies often proceed from a narrow range of 
perspectives (most commonly critical social theory perspectives, such as 
those in the Marxist and subsequent traditions).  While the critical 
schools have indeed brought great insight to the field, the narrow 
stretch of social theories applied to digital divides is surprising, 
given the diversity of theoretical developments which have developed in 
social theories, especially in the last half century.



In order to expand the theoretical perspectives brought to bear on 
social relations in digital spheres, we have invited scholars from 
different disciplines (e.g., Sociology, (New) Media Studies, 
Communications, etc.) to apply social theories of stratification, 
inequalities, postmodernity, etc. (broadly conceived), to develop new 
perspectives on the rise and persistence of digital social inequalities. 
In so doing, we intend to stimulate innovative ways to study digital and 
social inequalities in digitally-enabled networked societies. The core 
analysis in this edited collection will be to examine and explain the 
phenomena of digital divides from a broad range of theoretical 
perspectives. Indeed, a relatively narrow band of digital divide studies 
have been theoretically-based, and among these, most have been limited 
to critical schools in the various Marxist traditions (and their 
descendants). This edited volume fills this gap in the field, by 
bringing together a variety of statements from scholars around the word, 
in which social theories are central to the discussion of digital divides.



Potential contributors are invited to explore the importance of social 
theories in analysing digital divides and digital inequalities. Papers 
must be theoretical, and (while the may contain illustrative empirical 
evidence or examples) should strongly feature the conceptual potential 
of theorizing digital divides in novel and intriguing ways. Submissions 
are welcome from scholars at all stages of their careers, and from 
various relevant disciplines (sociology, communications, media studies, 
etc.). While certainly well-established theoretical traditions are 
welcome (as in those expressing the vision of foundational social 
theorists), we also welcome exploration into areas which are perhaps 
less dominant or newer.



Possible perspectives for chapters include, but are certainly not 
limited, to the following traditions/perspectives:

·         Veblen: the role of leisure and consumption in digital 
inequalities.

·         Post-Colonialism: liberation (Fanon), Orientalism (Said), 
Spivak (the subaltern).

·         DeBord: digital inequalities in the age of spectacle.

·         Habermas: communication, the public sphere, and digital 
inequalities.

·         Durkheim: the role of solidarity, collective conscience, and 
anomie.

·         Surveillance studies: panoptic (and other) social sorting 
dynamics in the digital age.

·         Bauman: liquidity and digital divide.

·         Beck: digital divides and the society of risk.

·         Hochshild: emotional labor and digital divides.

·         Feminist theories: patriarchy, intersectionality, the cyborg, 
feminist epistemology.

·         Postmodernisms: hyper-reality, the end of metanarratives, weak 
thought.

·         Post-structural theory: deconstruction, queer theory.

·         Freud: psychoanalysis of digital inequalities.

·         Pragmatism: self, identity, symbolic interaction, and the 
digital divide.

·         Marxist: the relevance of capital, class struggle, alienation, 
etc. in digital divides.

·         Marxist traditions: Frankfurt school, Marxist feminism, 
Gramsci (hegemony).

·         Foucault: discipline, control, knowledge and digital distinction.

·         Bourdieu: social capital and digital inequalities, the habitus.



Submissions should be in the form of extended abstracts of around 300 
words in MS Word, sent as an email attachment to Massimo Ragnedda 
((ragnedda /at/ gmail.com)) and Glenn Muschert ((muschegw /at/ MiamiOH.edu)).





The deadline for abstract submissions is 15 March 2015.



Abstracts will be judged on criteria of relevance and originality of 
topic. Notification of initially-approved abstracts will be announced in 
mid-April, after which contributors will be asked to move forward to the 
peer-review submission phase. We will submit the book proposal to Routledge.

Contributions of 6000 words (maximum including abstract, footnotes, 
tables/figures with captions, references, and appendices, if any) will 
be due 1 December 2015. All submissions must adhere to APA (6th 
edition). Chapters will be subject to double-blind peer review, and to 
encourage coherence in the special section, all contributors will be 
requested to act as a peer reviewer for at least one other article.

Also, please feel welcome to post this call for papers widely and to 
forward it to interested colleagues and students. We hope to see some 
proposals from many of you, and for now, please feel welcome to be in 
contact if you have any questions for us.



With best regards,



Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn Muschert



--
Massimo Ragnedda
Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication
Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK)
mragnedda.wordpress.com
skype: massimo.ragnedda

http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda
Connect with me on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook


---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chauss�de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------