Digital Society

New forms of ‘digital’ social science, such as digital anthropology and digital sociology, have emerged over recent decades in response to the increasing digitalisation of society.

They have given rise to new theoretical approaches to issues of digital surveillance, datafication, digital inequality etc, as well as new methods for researching digital platforms and practices. Though initially sub-fields of social science disciplines, increasingly digital social science is moving into the mainstream, and is becoming a core part of how social scientists critically analyse and research societies and social practices.

Since the launch of the Sussex Humanities Lab, the digital social sciences have been an important part of the Lab’s interdisciplinary approach. One of the founding members is the School of Education and Social Work, and over time researchers from across Sociology, Law, Global Studies, Business Studies, Psychology, Anthropology and other social science fields have become part of this interdisciplinary network. The Digital Society priority area seeks to further develop the connections between social scientists at Sussex working around digital social science issues, as well as providing a space for researchers to share innovative digital methods and to form new collaborations within and beyond the social sciences.

The Digital Society priority area is characterised by a critical approach to digital social science. It engages with issues such as:

The ethical issues that underpin digital social science research, and how social science contributes to debates about the impacts of technology in society.

How technologies contribute to, and are involved in generating in new, structures of inequality and oppression.

The development of new democratic and open-access models of research and scholarship in the social sciences.

If you are interested in this area and would like to contribute please contact Liam Berriman l.j.berriman@sussex.ac.uk