The Spectacle of Online Life
Will be published approx. on 23. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
979-8-216-36819-9 (ISBN)
Description
The Spectacle of Online Life offers a groundbreaking exploration of the digital age's most pressing paradoxes: connection and isolation, democratization and control, authenticity and performance.
Edited by Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, Christopher T. Conner, and Matthew N. Hannah, this volume assembles a diverse array of scholars to critically examine how online technologies shape, reflect, and amplify the complexities of modern society.
Chapters in the text draw on insights from the Frankfurt School, Situationist International, and contemporary media studies. This collection delves into topics as varied as promotional livestreaming, climate change conspiracy theories, beauty influencer culture, and the role of artificial intelligence in content moderation. As the authors show, digital platforms are a double-edged sword both empowering grassroots movements and reinforcing systemic inequalities.
Edited by Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, Christopher T. Conner, and Matthew N. Hannah, this volume assembles a diverse array of scholars to critically examine how online technologies shape, reflect, and amplify the complexities of modern society.
Chapters in the text draw on insights from the Frankfurt School, Situationist International, and contemporary media studies. This collection delves into topics as varied as promotional livestreaming, climate change conspiracy theories, beauty influencer culture, and the role of artificial intelligence in content moderation. As the authors show, digital platforms are a double-edged sword both empowering grassroots movements and reinforcing systemic inequalities.
Reviews / Votes
"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." * David N. Smith, University of Kansas *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-216-36819-9 (9798216368199)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
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.
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.
Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Screens and Spectacles: The New Digital Terrain of Connection and Control
Christopher T. Conner, Matthew N. Hannah, Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo
Chapter 2: Culture Industry, Participatory Industry: How a Lack of Transparency in Social Media Deepens the Postmodern Crisis of Consciousness
Elizabeth Blakey
Chapter 3: Living in the Shop Window: Spectacle, Consumption, and Conflict in Promotional Livestreaming
Lizhen Zhao, Alkim Yalin, and Emily West
Chapter 4: Conspiracy Theories and the Spectacle of Climate Change
Matthew N. Hannah
Chapter 5: Ground Beneath the Echo Chamber: Forms of Life and Existential Needs
Jeremiah Morelock, Gordon C. Chang, and Crystal Lee Ward
Chapter 6: Mass Celebrity and Micro-Spectacle
Charles Thorpe and Sam Smith
Chapter 7: The Ubiquity of Networked Life: A Critical Environmental Analysis
Jessica Pardee and Vincent Serravallo
Chapter 8: Open Access vs. the Prestige Machine
David Arditi
Chapter 9: Critical Theory Foundations of Digital Capitalism: A Critical Political Economy Perspective
Christian Fuchs
Chapter 10: Shoppable Self as Spectacle: Precarious Identity Making of Beauty Influencers in China
Zepeng Zhou
Chapter 11: Online Violence and Radicalization
Matthew Costello and James Hawdon
Chapter 12: The Spectacle of Digital Waste: Spectacular Reassurance Strategies and the Material Impacts of the Digital Data System
Nicholas Baxter
Chapter 13: The Gay Gayze, Reconsidered: Expressions of Inequality on Grindr
Christopher T. Conner
Index
About the Editors and Contributors
Chapter 1: Screens and Spectacles: The New Digital Terrain of Connection and Control
Christopher T. Conner, Matthew N. Hannah, Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo
Chapter 2: Culture Industry, Participatory Industry: How a Lack of Transparency in Social Media Deepens the Postmodern Crisis of Consciousness
Elizabeth Blakey
Chapter 3: Living in the Shop Window: Spectacle, Consumption, and Conflict in Promotional Livestreaming
Lizhen Zhao, Alkim Yalin, and Emily West
Chapter 4: Conspiracy Theories and the Spectacle of Climate Change
Matthew N. Hannah
Chapter 5: Ground Beneath the Echo Chamber: Forms of Life and Existential Needs
Jeremiah Morelock, Gordon C. Chang, and Crystal Lee Ward
Chapter 6: Mass Celebrity and Micro-Spectacle
Charles Thorpe and Sam Smith
Chapter 7: The Ubiquity of Networked Life: A Critical Environmental Analysis
Jessica Pardee and Vincent Serravallo
Chapter 8: Open Access vs. the Prestige Machine
David Arditi
Chapter 9: Critical Theory Foundations of Digital Capitalism: A Critical Political Economy Perspective
Christian Fuchs
Chapter 10: Shoppable Self as Spectacle: Precarious Identity Making of Beauty Influencers in China
Zepeng Zhou
Chapter 11: Online Violence and Radicalization
Matthew Costello and James Hawdon
Chapter 12: The Spectacle of Digital Waste: Spectacular Reassurance Strategies and the Material Impacts of the Digital Data System
Nicholas Baxter
Chapter 13: The Gay Gayze, Reconsidered: Expressions of Inequality on Grindr
Christopher T. Conner
Index
About the Editors and Contributors