Digital sociology: beyond the digital to the sociological

Abstract

The sub-discipline of digital sociology has recently begun to attract attention among sociologists, particularly in the UK. In this paper I undertake a review of some of the most interesting features of the body of digital sociology scholarship as it has thus far emerged. Some might contend that digital sociology is simply a new name for a long-established sociological research interest in computerised and online technologies. However I argue that digital sociology as it has developed in the UK in particular has distinguished itself by developing a distinctive theoretical approach that raises important questions concerning the nature of social research and of sociology as a discipline and a practice in the age of the digital. As such, digital sociology has much broader implications than simply the study of digital technologies.