Network Society Research Articles

Digital technologies, closeness, and practices of being together in the context of the new normal in Serbia

At the beginning of 2020, the global community faced a dramatic collapse of everyday life due to the pandemic caused by the emergence of a new coronavirus. The widespread changes in both public and private life led to the breakdown of routines and rhythms of daily life as we knew them, ushering us into a period known as the new normal. One of the main characteristics of life in the new normal has been the requirement for physical distancing and the reduction of physical contacts, or physical isolation. Under these conditions, it has become noticeable that digital technologies have become the primary element and link for establishing and maintaining social connections within the complex network of human sociability, permeating all our social relations and interactions. With this in mind, in this paper, relying on ethnography from a methodological perspective and materially oriented ontology from a theoretical perspective, I will attempt to analyze and present the changes in practices of social connection, specifically the ways in which close social ties (family, friends, and partners) and new social practices and rituals, associated with the increased use of digital technologies under the conditions of the new normal, mutually constitute each other. In this paper, the new normal is perceived as a period of uncertainty and continuous waiting, where waiting is not seen as a form of doing nothing, but rather as activity, as a time filled with a range of different behaviors and emotional reactions, shaped by the changing conditions in which people adapt to liv?, creating new practices and routines in the process, while digital technologies are considered integral and equal elements of social connections and worlds, as well as active and intertwined components of everyday life. This work is based on part of the material collected during field research conducted for the purpose of writing a doctoral dissertation.

Man in Digitized Urban Socio-Cultural Space

Purpose. This article seeks to analyze the transformation of culture and social relations in cities amidst the digital transformations of space and everyday practices. Theoretical basis. The research is anchored in the theoretical foundations provided by Manuel Castells and Marshall McLuhan, both of whom delve deeply into the intricacies of the information society and the interactions between humans and technologies. Our analysis also relies on contributions from urbanists and experts in the "Smart Cities" domain, augmenting our study with practical facets of how digital innovations influence the urban milieu. We endeavor to understand how the interplay between humans and technologies within urban environments reconfigures one’s self-perception, their place in the world, and their interactions with their surroundings. Originality. The study evaluates the impact of digital transformations on urban settings, drawing from the theoretical notions of Manuel Castells and Marshall McLuhan, modern urbanistic principles, and empirical analysis of the urban environment. We emphasize that digitalization reconfigures concepts of time, space, and interpersonal interactions in cities, culminating in the emergence of a distinct social identity that manifests within a globalized and digitized urban existence. We illustrate the effects of digital innovations on social and cultural practices, and underscore the significance of striking a balance between individual freedom and technological control in urban landscapes. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that digital transformation, which bridges the tangible and the virtual, reshapes the identities and daily experiences of urban inhabitants. They engage in an existential struggle to preserve their sociocultural essence. In a networked society where the local and global intermingle, novel social practices arise that obscure boundaries between the individual and collective, and between the tangible and virtual. The urban milieu becomes a crucible for experiments in the social, economic, and cultural realms, with technologies introducing both conveniences and challenges. Digital transformation modifies societal interactions and has profound implications for the sociocultural fabric.

Cancel Culture” in Political Discourse: Multiple Forms and Research Opportunities

The article discusses the so-called “cancel culture” as a factor in the new social reality, influencing the configuration of constantly changing social relations. At the same time, it is shown that the interpretations of “cancel culture” in sociopolitical and sociocultural discourse are very extensive. An attempt has been made to analyse “cancel culture” in the context of the variety of forms of its manifestation, and the main features and characteristics of this phenomenon are described. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that “cancel culture” is one of the forms of interaction between subjects of social relations. It is shown that “cancel culture” can be considered both as a form of political relations and as a technology currently used in various spheres of public life to achieve certain political or business goals. At the same time, attention should be paid to the fact that “cancel culture” is becoming widespread in connection with the transition to the widespread use of information and communication technologies and the emergence of a network society. And the process of digitalisation, including social relations, largely contributes to its expansion in modern society.
 The transition to a new type of society - information, network society - entailed a transition to new forms and mechanisms of social interactions. The work notes that the acceleration of social development has a significant impact on all aspects of social life, including the system of social interactions and relationships. It is suggested that technologies and mechanisms for the implementation of social interactions, alternative to existing ones, are emerging in the 21st century. From these positions, it is argued that “cancel culture” is one of the types of social interactions, primarily in network projection. It is concluded that the range of interpretation of the concept of “cancel culture” is quite wide, research approaches are diverse and make it possible to study it from the point of view of forms and technologies of social interaction, as well as one of the varieties of communication models.
 The phenomenon of “cancel culture” is considered in the context of the digital transformation of modern society. Based on the analysis of digitalisation processes (from the perspective of the considered issue of the relationship between digitalisation and “cancel culture”), the special significance of the political, legal and ethical aspects of the implementation of “cancel culture” in social practices is noted.

Smart еlite: conceptual framework

The article discusses a new subgroup within the ruling class, which is proposed to be called the smart elite. Its functional purpose is strategic planning and leadership in the digitisation of the economy, the state governance system, and more. In this context, digitisation is considered a mechanism for transforming society towards the development of advanced practices and social institutions. From a functional perspective, the identified group is an elite of development. The smart elite is primarily localised within development institutions and a number of near-elite groups, including experts, IT specialists, and businessmen. Its members possess competencies in the areas of strategic planning and project management. Additionally, the smart elite places a high value on advanced digital literacy, including knowledge and skills in working with content management systems (CMS), Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager (GTM), Yandex.Metrica, and others. To recruit individuals into this subgroup, open channels of social mobility have been created within the state, such as the “Leaders of Russia” competition, grants from the Skolkovo Foundation, and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. The sociocultural meanings that bind the smart elite internally and are transmitted by its members beyond the group are related to activities in the interests of Russia. There is a constant tension between the desire of elite representatives to preserve their acquired power and, therefore, maintain the existing system without change, and the necessity to ensure the technological and social development of the country. At the individual level, this tension manifests as a conflict between conservative protectors and innovators within the power structures. However, the smart elite represents innovators of a special sociocultural type, associated with the formation of horizontal, non-hierarchical relationships in the networked society, including power distribution issues. At the highest echelons of power, the smart elite corresponds to the “networked people” in society; both of these social groups represent prototypes of a new type of stratification within the social system. The need to study the smart elite is linked to the evaluation of the effectiveness of state strategic planning and management, the sufficiency of qualified managerial personnel, and the presence or absence of contradictions between the declared and latent goals of the development institutions within which the smart elite operates.

LIETUVIŲ TAUTINIO TAPATUMO KONSTRAVIMAS SOCIALINIUOSE TINKLUOSE: GASTRONOMINĖS KULTŪROS KONTEKSTAI

The debate on gastronomic culture and identity, the national heritage, national products and gastronomic nationalism, is one of the most active and popular in the contemporary public discourse. The increased importance of different identities in contemporary networked society drives the popularity of these topics. As a form of the intangible heritage, gastronomic culture is an evolving system that easily links past and present societies. In this way, the gastronomic heritage and the history of gastronomy are easily transferred to contemporary culture, and become the basis for various identities. Given that the intangible heritage operates in society through tangible representations, and that in gastronomic culture one of the most visible representations is dishes, this study analyses the communication of one of them, šaltibarščiai (cold soup), on the social network Facebook. The study aims to determine how the representation of a specific intangible element of the heritage is used to construct the Lithuanian national identity. The research has identified the most important topics of discussion, the discourses involved, and elements of the reality that are important for constructing the national identity and their interrelationships.

Dissecting Disinformation Dynamics: Insights from a Social Media Environment

In the digital age, a period we might characterize as a time when societal, economic, and scientific shifts have redefined the trajectory of transformation, leading to the emergence of a networked society; rapid advancements in communication technologies, especially the surge in internet users, increased internet speeds, and enhanced internet and application usability on mobile devices have begun to render traditional media obsolete. This has paved the way for newer digital communication platforms endowed with interactive features. Notably, social media platforms provide users with the means to share information, emotions, thoughts, and ideas more efficiently and swiftly. With advancements in internet technologies, social media platforms have become accessible to vast audiences, resulting in a structure that can be described as a social network society. Consequently, information content and news can be rapidly disseminated and shared with the masses. However, in such communication environments, news is often relayed without verification or is deliberately misconstrued, leading to the emergence of disinformation comprised of fake news and inaccuracies. While controlling this process in a globalized world might pose challenges, the research herein proposes an artificial intelligence-based approach capable of discerning the veracity of news and swiftly verifying it. We extracted data from a platform Facebook and found patterns indicating a significant prevalence of disinformation. Of the 5,000 posts assessed, nearly one-fifth were flagged as misleading. Age, post engagement, and network size, often hypothesized as potential influencers, displayed only weak correlations with the propensity to share or engage with disinformation. The multifaceted nature of disinformation spread underscores the need for an integrated approach, combining technology and user education, to combat its proliferation on digital platforms. These findings demonstrate the pressing need and potential efficacy of AI-driven solutions in countering disinformation in today's digital communication landscape.

André Rebouças Beyond the Atlantic: The Racism and Sociability Network of a Black Nineteenth-Century Engineer

Abstract In this article, we analyse the intellectual trajectory of André Pinto Rebouças (1838-1898) between 1870 and 1888, and how he problematised the relation between education, technology, and social reform. Rebouças argued that access to land and technical education were the mechanisms of upward mobility for black people and European immigrants. He was an engineer, teacher, businessman, abolitionist, journalist, and man of science. His family, intellectual, and professional trajectory was permeated by an extensive sociability network and racial barriers, both within and outside Brazil. Rebouças was a spokesman for the social concerns of his time, particularly those which affected not only the productive sector, but the living conditions and survival of non-white people. The relevance of this work is to add reflections to the history of science and black intellectuals.

The new technological condition: From actor-centered to data-driven and future-oriented technology

In the ongoing process of the dynamical transformation of the knowledge basis of our contemporary society, under conditions co-shaped by the emerging “data-driven” and “future-oriented” technologies, a new logic comes to the fore, which has to do with the triumphant rise of networks and other phenomena pertaining to an enormous technological complexity. This review article turns its analytic attention on the hidden order forming the dominant model of the network society, as well as on the fundamental disruptive changes brought with the rise of information and knowledge to a central economic factor. Then, it elaborates on the preceding models of the society of individuals and the society of organizations, which were integrated in the reshaping and remodeling processes of the network society. The conclusions concern the unprecedented disconnection between the consciousness of the individuals and the domain of human experience, as well as between the specialized knowledge and the life-worlds of the citizens.

Connecting differential psychological motivations for WeChat use with civic engagement: the significant role of bonding and bridging social capital

PurposeThe primary objectives of this article are to systematically explore whether and how certain WeChat use motives could lead to bridging social capital, bonding social capital and civic engagement among young people.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected from a large-scale online survey of 1208 young people in mainland China. Zero-order correlation analyses and structural equation modeling were carried out to examine the corresponding hypotheses.FindingsObtained findings show that WeChat use for informational and social motivations are positively associated with bonding and bridging social capital. Moreover, bonding social capital could mediate the relationship between WeChat usage for informational and relational motivations and civic engagement.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this article underlines the unique social and technological affordances of WeChat by exploring mobile social media use and how it would contribute to the quality of democracy by fostering young people's engagement in civic life. Practically, bridging and bonding social capital play significant roles in enhancing young people's civic engagement, which could be the meaningful resource for mobile social media designers, managers and government officials.Originality/valueThese obtained outcomes underlined the vital role of these newly emerging communication technologies in fostering democratic involvement and production of social capital in contemporary socially networked society.

Aspectos da plataformização educacional na educação básica brasileira

We live in the unfolding of what Manuel Castells (2005) named Network Society, whose core are Information Technologies (TIs). He indicated the key features of the new scenario that he diagnosed, namely, technologies that act on information itself and that also introduced the logic of networks; that promote technological convergence and therefore, a highly integrated system of technical apparatuses; and that sharply penetrate the different social processes and spheres. Since then, we have witnessed great and rapid technological leaps as well as the consolidation of transformations in the organizational and institutional economic-political dynamics and in the construction of human and non-human lives on the planet. These changes have reached not only informal modes of learning, but also formal education. The aim of this article is to discuss current aspects of the use of digital platforms in education present in Brazilian basic education, with reference to the teaching of Philosophy in High School. To this end, we will reflect on the platformization of education, business model present in the current phase of capitalism and that uses the platforms supported by AI, and also the constant extraction of data from those who transit through the Information Highway of cyberspace; about what we name as School of Fatigue, in dialogue with the concept of Burnout Society developed by Byung Chul Han; and on some implications arising that are already present in the administration of teaching work, in teaching practice and teaching-learning relations.

Bridging Theory and Practice in Private Higher Education: Pedagogical Innovations for the Digital Age

With the application of big data in the information age, the popularization of artificial intelligence and the coming of the network society, the traditional university education model has been severely impacted and challenged. It is an inevitable trend for higher education to adapt to the new social development reality and make corresponding adjustment and reform. Traditional university education pays attention to the imparts of theoretical knowledge and the cultivation of practical ability, but in the information age, students can get rich information and knowledge through the Internet, thus weakening the monopoly of traditional education. In addition, the popularity of artificial intelligence technology also means that some traditional teaching activities can be replaced by automation and intelligence, and the value chain of traditional education has been reshaped. The rise of the network society has also posed new challenges to the traditional university education model. The network society is characterized by a high degree of information sharing and exchange, and students can access various online educational resources and learning opportunities through the network platform. Therefore, traditional university education needs to find a new positioning and role, pay more attention to cultivating innovative ability, practical ability and teamwork ability, and provide students with more competitive comprehensive ability. Faced with these challenges, higher education must make corresponding adjustments and changes. The article carries out relevant research and puts forward specific countermeasures, mainly to update the educational concept, change the educational mode, and focus on cultivating students’ innovative thinking and problem-solving ability. It is necessary to develop diversified educational resources, meet social needs, strengthen cooperation with industries and enterprises, and provide professional education that matches market demand. At the same time, it is also necessary to actively develop online and distance education, make full use of online platforms and technological means, and provide flexible and diverse learning opportunities.

Aspectos bioéticos del uso de redes sociales en obstetricia y ginecología

The proliferation of professional use of social networks in obstetrics and gynecology by specialists and residents in training entails a series of bioethical aspects that should not be neglected. These go hand in hand with the emergence of the networked society and homo digitalis, taking into account the ontology of the digital being. The doctor-patient relationship has a series of characteristics and functions that should not be lost due to the emergence of e-professionalism in interaction on social networks, especially in the face of the high incidence of lack of professionalism in them. The review of the literature on its use in the specialty allows us to develop a series of recommendations whose guidelines allow for appropriate professional behavior in online interactions. Following these recommendations will help avoid online professional exposure and subsequent legal liability

Digital competence for students in the networking society 5.0: A systematic review

The systematic review provides research trends about the importance of digital competence among students in Indonesia. However, there are limited literature reviews regarding digital competencies for students. This research used the PRISMA protocol using Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar databases. Researchers set inclusion and exclusion criteria in the literature search. One hundred twenty-two articles were produced, which were then filtered to 20. This research used content analysis to code, classify, and develop themes. Based on the analysis results, three major themes were obtained: student digital competence, digital native students, and digital learning engagement. This review promotes the importance of digital competencies for students and recommends strategies for developing them through learning integration.

Childhood for Sale: Unraveling the Commodification of Children in the Realm of Mengwa-Child Influencers

The Internet's quick development has given people access to a wider audience. Anyone can use this platform to create their own content as a self-media creator. In November 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Minors in the Online Cultural Market, strictly prohibiting the use of "Child Influencers" for profit. Based on this phenomenon, this article focuses on a group of child influencers to explore the impact of children's commercialization on their physical and mental health. Therefore, the psychology of the child can answer this question. Observe their physical and mental health problems in the self-media environment, and understand the new changes of children in the network society. The results found that child influencers who have been exposed to social media for a long time are more likely to have value deviations, anxiety, an obsession with virtual identities, and a tendency to become adults.

Conceptual basis of research of strategic development of the aviation industry in the context of global challenges

The conceptual foundations of the strategic development of air transport are defined based on a comprehensive synthesis of modern scientific works, a study of the evolution of the aviation industry, an analysis of trends in the global air transport services market, and a search for the most effective ways of strategic development and optimization of interaction between the two critical subjective components of the industry - airlines and airports, in order to maximize their combined potential and increase the indicators of industry development in the face of global challenges. As a result of a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical foundations of strategic development, a set of paradigms that form the theoretical and methodological basis for the study of strategic development of the air transport industry has been identified and scientifically substantiated. The analysis of methodological foundations allowed us to define a set of paradigms that form the methodological basis for the study of strategic development of the air transport industry: the concept of technogenic society, intellectual culture, the concept of global information society, the concept of globalization and network society; axiological approach. The article substantiates the growing role and importance of air transport in the global world despite the development of other types of communications. After all, air transport, combined with other modes of transport and communication channels, plays a significant role in the development of civilization, influencing demographic, migration, economic, political, scientific, technical, and other processes, and spheres of human activity. The development of aviation has led to the establishment of communications between different parts of the world, different cultures, and local communities, which in turn has become a catalyst for the development of aviation itself. Conclusions are drawn about the insufficient coverage of the socio-economic vector of air transport development in the global environment and the expediency of considering the conceptual issues of air transport industry development in the context of global challenges. Keywords: air transport industry, strategic development, global challenges, methodological principles, theoretical and methodological framework economic factors.

Contributor biographies

Contributor biographies

Real Property Transactions in the Network Society: Platform Real Estate, Housing Hactivism, and the Re-scaling of Public and Private Power

Technology is rapidly transforming the landscape of land ownership and housing transactions, creating new types of consumer risk and new regulatory challenges. As markets, legal systems, and housing consumers navigate the new opportunities and risks of “platform real estate” (or “PropTech”), the underlying land laws, policies, and practices that produce the material context and legal framework for real property transactions, and against which consumer risk and regulation must be understood, require “re-scaling.” In this article, we offer a theoretical framework for this re-scaling project, drawing on our earlier work to develop Resilient Property Theory (RPT) for analysing complex, large-scale property questions using methods that—in a departure from liberal property theories—pay attention to the public role of the state. Against a backdrop in which narratives of private property law defined real property transactions as “private realm” activities, while consumer law and policy provided the vehicle for state-backed regulation of specifically defined transactions based on a risk-based approach, this article brings the state back into view to reflect on new configurations of risk in consumer housing transactions. In the de-materialized realm of the “network society,” networks, platforms, and innovations are recalibrating housing transactions. In this data-driven world, land transactions are financialized, depersonalized, and increasingly remote from the materiality of land and the consumption of housing. As new capabilities in digital land transaction systems reach back into the underlying law of ownership, official (state), insider (global capital markets), and outsider (social movement activists) networks have evolved to leverage their relative positionality. This article uses techniques developed in RPT to examine the re-scaling of risk in real property and housing transactions through digital network technologies. We consider the implications of resilience needs in the network society in relation to the public sovereignty of the state, the private sovereignty of land ownership, and practices of resistance to public and private sovereignty through “housing hacktivism.” Finally, we argue that conceptions of consumer vulnerability and risk and embedded ideas about the relationships between private property law and consumer law and policy in real property transactions must evolve to take account of these effects.

Bağlantıları Haritalandırmak: Geç Dönem Osmanlı İstanbul’unda Yaşayan Müzisyenlerin Ağ Analiz Yöntemiyle İncelenmesi

The core idea of this paper is to represent the social networks of musicians, which lived in late Ottoman Istanbul. The networked society, as a social term, aims to depict communities in ongoing interactions and hence gives prominence to ties and connections between members of the society in question. To digitally visualize those links, there are innovative devices such as Gephi software. Through various algorithms, the program converts the relational database of musicians and digitally visualizes this database in many different forms. The powerful layouts offer compelling evidence of the channels of musical knowledge that were transmitted from masters to disciples as well as between musicians. Moreover, the visual depiction of musician networks would permit us to interpret the influential, isolated musicians and the interactions between the main and the sub-clusters in the whole network. This paper offers an innovative approach to the musician communities of late Ottoman Istanbul.

PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION OF THE #BUBARKANMUI MOVEMENT

The campaign narrative for the dissolution of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) invited many comments from netizens on social media to develop into a digital social movement to urge the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to be dissolved because one of its members was arrested by the police regarding the issue of terrorism. This news had become a trending topic on Twitter and threatened the existence of MUI as a forum for Islamic community organizations in Indonesia. To analyze these problems, researchers used the Network Society theory with a quantitative approach and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) method to analyze it. This study aims to analyze actors’ conversations in voicing new social movements through the #BubaranMUI hashtag. Through the spread of a communication network on the hashtag #BubarkanMUI, it was found to be an effort of a digital social movement that was echoed by political actors through a single Twitter account as well as building fake accounts as alter egos for intermediaries and network close relations to spread negative comments about MUI and spread communication networks as a public call through media atwitter and gain support from Twitter users to disband the MUI.

Knowledge work compulsion: The neoliberal mediation of working existence in the network society

This contribution seeks to understand the pervasive phenomenon of work compulsion among knowledge workers in our present network society. Knowledge workers not only have to work all the time from anywhere, but they also appear to want to. This study argues that this curious phenomenon may be attributed to the thumotic satisfaction that knowledge work generates. What is more, the neoliberal theory of human capital has found a way to harness thumotic satisfaction to the profit incentive, and has created arguably the most productive working subject to date. The argument is divided into four parts: First, the paper analyses the government(- ality) of control operative in the network society by defining “neoliberalism”. It then focuses on Foucault’s examinations of German and American neoliberalism in the 20th century, treating them as instances of governmentality. The aim is to assess whether employing a governmentality lens is a valid approach for critically analysing present-day neoliberalism. If it proves justifiable, which I argue it does, the study explores the potential valuable insights gained from examining contemporary neoliberalism through this particular analytical framework. Second, the study turns to the “spiritedness” of knowledge workers under the conditions of stealth control that typify the neoliberal network society. Curiously, these highly engaged workers have reportedly experienced increased overall well-being. However, their overinvestment in work appears to be disproportionate to absolute necessity, increased earnings or improved overall quality of life. This paper contends that work compulsion generates and is in turn fuelled by thumotic satisfaction. Third, the study tries to ascertain the connection between neoliberal governmentality and thumos. Neoliberal governmentality appears to have found a way to appropriate thumotic satisfaction to produce and sustain the competitive entrepreneurial spirit. The fourth part of the study considers how the knowledge worker might resist the compulsion to work incessantly.