Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo is Associate Professor of Sociology at California State University, Chico and author of Dance Music Spaces: Clubs, Clubbers, and DJs Navigating Authenticity, Branding, and Commercialism.Christopher T. Conner is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri, Columbia.Matthew N. Hannah is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities in the School of Information Studies at Purdue University.

"In this age of spectacle and excess — this moment of what Erich Fromm called "sadistic circuses" — how welcome it is to see critical scrutiny applied in such a bracing and sober way to the many dimensions of our society of digitized spectacle. The authors, experts all, offer a treasury of insights across the spectrum of online themes."

• AcknowledgmentsChapter 1: Screens and Spectacles: The New Digital Terrain of Connection and ControlChristopher T. Conner, Matthew N. Hannah, Danielle Antoinette HidalgoChapter 2: Culture Industry, Participatory Industry: How a Lack of Transparency in Social Media Deepens the Postmodern Crisis of ConsciousnessElizabeth BlakeyChapter 3: Living in the Shop Window: Spectacle, Consumption, and Conflict in Promotional LivestreamingLizhen Zhao, Alkim Yalin, and Emily WestChapter 4: Conspiracy Theories and the Spectacle of Climate ChangeMatthew N. HannahChapter 5: Ground Beneath the Echo Chamber: Forms of Life and Existential NeedsJeremiah Morelock, Gordon C. Chang, and Crystal Lee WardChapter 6: Mass Celebrity and Micro-Spectacle Charles Thorpe and Sam SmithChapter 7: The Ubiquity of Networked Life: A Critical Environmental AnalysisJessica Pardee and Vincent SerravalloChapter 8: Open Access vs. the Prestige Machine David ArditiChapter 9: Critical Theory Foundations of Digital Capitalism: A Critical Political Economy PerspectiveChristian FuchsChapter 10: Shoppable Self as Spectacle: Precarious Identity Making of Beauty Influencers in ChinaZepeng ZhouChapter 11: Online Violence and RadicalizationMatthew Costello and James HawdonChapter 12: The Spectacle of Digital Waste: Spectacular Reassurance Strategies and the Material Impacts of the Digital Data SystemNicholas BaxterChapter 13: The Gay Gayze, Reconsidered: Expressions of Inequality on GrindrChristopher T. ConnerIndexAbout the Editors and Contributors