K2SP 3530 - Sociology of Digital Technology

This course examines the social dynamics closely intertwined with digital technologies to better understand what fair and effective public policies might look like in the digital era.

By focusing on digital platforms and AI, we will explore the social processes that shape the design, use, and regulation of these technologies. Here are some of the questions we will address in the course: To what extent do these technologies affect how individuals work, learn, and interact with one another? How can we understand the continued existence of inequalities on digital platforms? How do certain issues related to the rise of digital technologies emerge? How does the digital realm affect the relationship between governments and citizens?

Throughout the course, we will discuss recent research as well as more classical theories developed by the social sciences long before the rise of digital technology. The course will rely on studies focusing primarily on Europe and the United States, but efforts will also be made to document other cultural areas (South America and Asia).

This course is intended for students with or without a background in social science.

The course will be delivered in the classroom, and we will use Google Drive.

Group research (70%) : collective sociological investigation of an empirical object (eg. online service, government-led software project, use of generative AI for online debate, etc.) based on sociological methods (interviews, observations, or digital corpus) to address a research question

Individual critical analysis paper (30%) : 3-page review of an academic article or book chapter related to the group topic.

Class participation (+ 1 point

For most sessions, the reading of a book chapter or article is required. This is important work, and you are expected to have read it carefully. The quality of collective discussion depends on that.

Throughout the semester, you will conduct your investigation in groups (elaboration of the subject, identification of the field of investigation, bibliographical research, writing the final digital report, etc.).