Simon Lindgren – författare

In today’s world, digital media and the social are irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren introduces a wide range of concepts and approaches that aid in exploring and understanding what it means to live in a digital society. In this new edition you will encounter:

- An exploration of non-progressive forms of digital activism, including radicalization and hate groups

- Added coverage of post-pandemic, post-truth digital media with topics such as disinformation and computational propaganda

- Cutting-edge content on algorithms, covering recent developments in generative AI, LLMs, and synthetic media such as deepfakes.

- Expanded learning features and discussion prompts to put theory into practiceUpdated, revised and expanded throughout to cover emerging platforms and issues, this book is a must-have for students exploring digital media, social media, and the internet.

Sociologi 2.0 - Samhällsteori och samtidskultur riktar sig till alla som är intresserade av sociologi och samhällsteori, men är särskilt tänkt som lärobok på grundläggande teorikurser inom sociologi och andra samhällsvetenskapliga ämnen.

I andra upplagan har många exempel aktualiserats, men bokens grundläggande struktur och idé har bibehållits. Med exempel ur dagens samhälle förkastas inte befintlig teori till förmån för trendiga begrepp, utan exemplen illustrerar snarare de etablerade teoriernas ibland nästan förvånansvärda användbarhet när man ska ge sig i kast med att analysera dagens samhälle. När klassikerna utarbetade sina perspektiv fanns varken snabbmat, reality-TV eller mobiltelefoner, men de lyckades ändå finna perspektiv på samhället som i allra högsta grad bör hållas vid liv.

I boken tas både klassiska och mer sentida teorier upp i relation till samtidskulturella uttryck på ett sätt som förser läsaren med en relativt omfattande orientering och begreppslig verktygslåda. Nyckelbegreppen hos tänkare som Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel, Bourdieu, Giddens, Goffman, Bauman och Butler ges en ordentlig genomgång...

Bokens författare Simon Lindgren är professor i sociologi vid Umeå universitet. Hans forskning handlar om samarbete, stöd, lärande, konflikter, makt och aktivism på Internet och i sociala medier.

Samhällsvetenskaplig forskning handlar om att studera sociala fenomen som väcker frågor och skapar nyfikenhet. Men för att man ska kunna besvara frågorna och stilla sin nyfikenhet måste man veta hur man ska gå tillväga. I den här boken beskrivs och förklaras det vetenskapliga hantverk som krävs för att man ska nå underbyggd kunskap om vårt samhälle. Det finns många metodböcker, men den här utmärker sig, dels genom att den betonar det tolkningsarbete som tar vid efter insamling av data, dels genom att den avdramatiserar skillnaderna mellan kvantitativ och kvalitativ analys.

Denna andra upplaga är mer heltäckande än den första. Här har två kapitel om datainsamlingsmetoder tillkommit, och texten har också uppdaterats och delvis strukturerats om.

Mikael Hjerm är professor i sociologi vid Umeå universitet.

Simon Lindgren är professor i sociologi vid Umeå universitet.

Marco Nilsson är filosofie doktor och verksam vid Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet.

Sociology is a constantly changing scientific endeavour, adventure and practice that was born with the advent of modernity. One of the main reasons for the rise of sociology was modern society’s wish to understand itself. In this introduction to sociology, the authors emphasize the importance and centrality of the idea of the sociological imagination, as it was conceived by sociologist C. Wright Mills.

This book will enhance and further develop your sociological imagination with a ‘sensibility’ that has its breeding ground in the Scandinavian countries; this is the first comprehensive attempt to write an international/Nordic text book and introductory text to sociology.

This book is aimed primarily at first year students in sociology but will be of interest to anyone who is looking for a comprehensive guide to the exciting field of sociology.

In today’s world, digital media and the social are irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren introduces a wide range of concepts and approaches that aid in exploring and understanding what it means to live in a digital society. In this new edition you will encounter:

- An exploration of non-progressive forms of digital activism, including radicalization and hate groups

- Added coverage of post-pandemic, post-truth digital media with topics such as disinformation and computational propaganda

- Cutting-edge content on algorithms, covering recent developments in generative AI, LLMs, and synthetic media such as deepfakes.

- Expanded learning features and discussion prompts to put theory into practiceUpdated, revised and expanded throughout to cover emerging platforms and issues, this book is a must-have for students exploring digital media, social media, and the internet.

The distinction between online and offline realities is becoming more and more difficult to sustain. As computer-mediated communication evolves and as interaction becomes more and more dependent on the Internet, social, cultural, and political aspects begin to get caught and entangled in the web of contemporary digital communication technologies. Digital tools and platforms for communication are progressively becoming commonplace, while the cultural conceptions that surround these technologies—immediacy, constant accessibility, availability—are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Hybrid Media Culture is an interdisciplinary exploration of how the online and the offline interact in present-day culture. In the aftermath of all-encompassing perspectives on ‘postmodernisation’ and ‘globalization’, there is now a pressing need for scholars of new media and society to come to terms with issues of place, embodiment, and materiality in a world of ‘virtual’ flows and ‘cyber’ culture. This book explores ways of conceptualizing the intricate intermingling of the online and the offline through case studies of hybrid media places, including: user-generated videos about self-harm; visibility, surveillance and digital media; digital communication tools and politics; and physical and virtual churches.

This interdisciplinary edited collection investigates the effects of the internet and digital culture on perceptions and uses of identities, bodies and localities. It will be of interest to students and scholars of digital culture, sociology, media and communications studies, new media, body studies, politics, and science and technology studies.

The distinction between online and offline realities is becoming more and more difficult to sustain. As computer-mediated communication evolves and as interaction becomes more and more dependent on the Internet, social, cultural, and political aspects begin to get caught and entangled in the web of contemporary digital communication technologies. Digital tools and platforms for communication are progressively becoming commonplace, while the cultural conceptions that surround these technologies—immediacy, constant accessibility, availability—are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Hybrid Media Culture is an interdisciplinary exploration of how the online and the offline interact in present-day culture. In the aftermath of all-encompassing perspectives on ‘postmodernisation’ and ‘globalization’, there is now a pressing need for scholars of new media and society to come to terms with issues of place, embodiment, and materiality in a world of ‘virtual’ flows and ‘cyber’ culture. This book explores ways of conceptualizing the intricate intermingling of the online and the offline through case studies of hybrid media places, including: user-generated videos about self-harm; visibility, surveillance and digital media; digital communication tools and politics; and physical and virtual churches.

This interdisciplinary edited collection investigates the effects of the internet and digital culture on perceptions and uses of identities, bodies and localities. It will be of interest to students and scholars of digital culture, sociology, media and communications studies, new media, body studies, politics, and science and technology studies.

We live in an age of artificial intelligence. Machines think and act in ever more complex ways, making suggestions and decisions on our behalf. While AI might be seen as practical and profitable, issues of data surveillance, algorithmic control, and sexist and racist bias persist. In this rapidly changing landscape, social analysis of AI risks getting scaled down to issues of ‘ethics’, ‘responsibility’, and ‘fairness’. While these are important issues, they must be addressed not from an ‘AI first’ perspective, but more thoroughly in terms of power and contention.

Approaching artificial intelligence from the often overlooked perspective of critical social theory, this book provides a much-needed intervention on how both old and new theories conceptualize the social consequences of AI. Questions are posed about the ideologies driving AI, the mythologies surrounding AI, and the complex relationship between AI and power. Simon Lindgren provides a way of defining AI as an object of social and political critique, and guides the reader through a set of contentious areas where AI and politics intersect. In relation to these topics, critical theories are drawn upon, both as an argument for and an illustration of how AI can be critiqued.

Given the opportunities and challenges of AI, this book is a must-read for students and scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and STEM disciplines.

In today’s world, digital media and the social are irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren introduces a wide range of concepts and approaches that aid in exploring and understanding what it means to live in a digital society. In this new edition you will encounter:

- An exploration of non-progressive forms of digital activism, including radicalization and hate groups

- Added coverage of post-pandemic, post-truth digital media with topics such as disinformation and computational propaganda

- Cutting-edge content on algorithms, covering recent developments in generative AI, LLMs, and synthetic media such as deepfakes.

- Expanded learning features and discussion prompts to put theory into practiceUpdated, revised and expanded throughout to cover emerging platforms and issues, this book is a must-have for students exploring digital media, social media, and the internet.

What does it mean to live in a digital society? Does social media empower political activism? How do we form and express our identity in a digital age? Do algorithms and search engine results have a social role? How have software and hardware transformed how we interact with each other? In the early 21st century, digital media and the social have become irreversibly intertwined. In this cutting-edge introduction, Simon Lindgren explores what it means to live in a digital society. With succinct explanations of the key concepts, debates and theories you need to know, this is a must-have resource for students exploring digital media, social media, media and society, data and society, and the internet. “An engaging story of the meaning digital media have in societies. The writing is relatable, with diverse and comprehensive references to theories. Above all, this is a fun book on what a contemporary digital society looks like!” - Professor Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago Simon Lindgren is Professor of Sociology at Umeå University in Sweden. He is also the director of DIGSUM, an interdisciplinary academic research centre studying the social dimensions of digital technology.

Moving beyond narrow technological definitions of AI, the Handbook provides readers with an in-depth understanding of its social, ethical and political implications. Chapters cover a broad range of timely issues related to AI, including the risk of bias and discrimination in its systems, its impact on democracy and governance, concerns surrounding privacy and surveillance, and the use of its technologies in decision-making processes. Underscoring the urgent need for deeper critical analyses of AI, the Handbook constitutes a major contribution to the ongoing discussion about what critical studies of AI can entail, what questions they may pose, and what concepts they can offer to address them.

Rich in theoretical and empirical analysis, this cutting-edge Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars of digital sociology and science and technology studies. Its extensive coverage of this emerging field will also appeal to practitioners, developers and policymakers seeking orientation in the complex social and political dynamics of AI.