Handbook of Digital Social Science
Will be published approx. on 28. August 2026
Book
Hardback
398 pages
978-1-80220-100-0 (ISBN)
Description
This highly informative Handbook brings together international scholars to advance the evolving field of digital social science. It articulates a renewed vision for the field by exploring its historical foundations, emergent formations and future possibilities.
Expert contributors argue that the future of digital social science lies in the synergistic integration of social science methodologies and technical expertise, oriented toward ethical outcomes. The Handbook introduces the theoretical concept of the Digital Social Science Pentagon, a new typology that acts as the structural anchor by outlining five key nodes of study: transitions, branches, interdisciplinarity, applications, and ethical futures. Key topics covered include issues of governance, policy experiences, child development, and digital inequality and oppression. The Handbook ultimately underscores the urgent need for collaborative, cross-disciplinary knowledge to address complex societal challenges and shape responsible and ethical digital futures.
The Handbook of Digital Social Science is an essential read for scholars and students of various intersections of digital studies including ethics, engineering, business, entrepreneurship, criminology, public policy, public health, law, and sociology. It also provides valuable insights for digital social scientists, theorists, and methodologists interested in collaborative knowledge, interdisciplinary dialogue, and technical expertise.
Expert contributors argue that the future of digital social science lies in the synergistic integration of social science methodologies and technical expertise, oriented toward ethical outcomes. The Handbook introduces the theoretical concept of the Digital Social Science Pentagon, a new typology that acts as the structural anchor by outlining five key nodes of study: transitions, branches, interdisciplinarity, applications, and ethical futures. Key topics covered include issues of governance, policy experiences, child development, and digital inequality and oppression. The Handbook ultimately underscores the urgent need for collaborative, cross-disciplinary knowledge to address complex societal challenges and shape responsible and ethical digital futures.
The Handbook of Digital Social Science is an essential read for scholars and students of various intersections of digital studies including ethics, engineering, business, entrepreneurship, criminology, public policy, public health, law, and sociology. It also provides valuable insights for digital social scientists, theorists, and methodologists interested in collaborative knowledge, interdisciplinary dialogue, and technical expertise.
Reviews / Votes
'The Handbook of Digital Social Science is a lively, engaging book, which captures the intellectual energy of this emerging and vital field. Drawing on diverse international authorship, it bridges theory and practice with aplomb. The Handbook is poised for high impact, shaping debates, methods, and future research agendas across global digital social science disciplines.' -- Geraldine Lee-Trewek, Birmingham City University, UK 'A rigorously curated Handbook offering incisive, interdisciplinary insights into the socio-technical architectures shaping our digital world. A valuable and thought-provoking contribution to contemporary social science and digital ethics.' -- Massimo Ragnedda, University of Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80220-100-0 (9781802201000)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Katia Moles, Assistant Teaching Professor of Social and Tech Ethics, Department of General Engineering, Santa Clara University, Laura Robinson, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Santa Clara University, USA, Simon Rogerson, Lifetime Professor Emeritus of Computer Ethics, Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, UK and Jeremy Schulz, Senior Researcher, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Content
Contents
PART I CONCEPTUALIZING DIGITAL SOCIAL SCIENCE
1 Digital social science: conceptual orientation and scope of consideration 2
Simon Rogerson
2 Tech ethics and the future of digital social science 8
Katia Moles
PART II TRANSITIONS
3 Communication as a right, internet as a right: a multidisciplinary
discussion 24
Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla
4 Twenty eighty-four: from an Orwellian to a Kafkaesque dystopia 38
Kiyoshi Murata
5 Marx, alienation, and our contradictory engagement with digital
technologies 53
Mike Healy
6 Digital innovation, values, and the technomoral virtues 69
Kirsten Wahlstrom
PART III BRANCHES
7 Creative resilience and globalization from within: evolving constructs for
promoting culture, digital innovation and enterprise in the Global South 83
Hopeton S. Dunn
8 The emerging smart business environment: a critical perspective on digital
transformation 101
Mario Arias-Oliva
9 Embracing digital social sciences in management and entrepreneurship
research 116
Ethne M. Swartz
10 The legal governance of digital technologies: hard law, soft law, and new
forms of legal coregulation 129
Ugo Pagallo
PART IV INTERDISCIPLINARITY
11 Interactional and contributory expertise in the debate around COVID
status apps: policy experiences in digital social science 141
Edgar A. Whitley
12 Anchoring accommodative communications in the digital age: reflections
on the rooting and branching of self in social interactions 161
Xiaojian Wu
13 Where is the body in digital science? 183
Stephanie Gauttier
14 A systematic literature review on conceptualizing disability in technology
studies 196
Anne-Marie Tuikka and Markus P. Zimmer
15 Digital parenting with a social robot: how can emerging technologies
contribute to enhance the quality of family life and mitigate ethical risks in
child development? 210
Ryoko Asai
PART V APPLICATIONS
16 Gaming through the eyes of children and adolescents: exploring the role of
digital games in children and adolescents' increasingly digitally mediated
lives 229
Vasiliki Koniakou, Vasiliki Chronaki, Nancy Pouloudi and George Lekakos
17 Digital social science and interpersonal relationships: formation of social
ties and changes in the structure of social networks 254
Gustavo S. Mesch and Matias Dodel
18 The internet and social media context: a Middle Eastern perspective on
digital inequality and digital oppression 268
Suad Almualla
19 Data specialists in Hollywood and the redefinition of production roles 282
Violaine Roussel
PART VI ETHICAL FUTURES
20 Digital experiential learning and remote research: meeting the ethics of the
moment with a growth mindset 298
Laura Robinson, Katia Moles, Keith Douglass Warner OFM and
Jennifer Merritt
21 Ethical considerations of digital research in the social sciences 314
Jessica Roberts
22 Existential appropriation in a digital age: the heart at the heart of digital
ethics 325
Chuck Huff and Almut Furchert
23 The convergence theory on digitalization and psychosocial life
environment: principles and actions for a good digital life for all 337
Gunilla Bradley
24 An end-to-end approach to ethical AI: socio-economic dimensions of the
production and deployment of automated technologies 346
Antonio A. Casilli and Paola Tubaro
PART I CONCEPTUALIZING DIGITAL SOCIAL SCIENCE
1 Digital social science: conceptual orientation and scope of consideration 2
Simon Rogerson
2 Tech ethics and the future of digital social science 8
Katia Moles
PART II TRANSITIONS
3 Communication as a right, internet as a right: a multidisciplinary
discussion 24
Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla
4 Twenty eighty-four: from an Orwellian to a Kafkaesque dystopia 38
Kiyoshi Murata
5 Marx, alienation, and our contradictory engagement with digital
technologies 53
Mike Healy
6 Digital innovation, values, and the technomoral virtues 69
Kirsten Wahlstrom
PART III BRANCHES
7 Creative resilience and globalization from within: evolving constructs for
promoting culture, digital innovation and enterprise in the Global South 83
Hopeton S. Dunn
8 The emerging smart business environment: a critical perspective on digital
transformation 101
Mario Arias-Oliva
9 Embracing digital social sciences in management and entrepreneurship
research 116
Ethne M. Swartz
10 The legal governance of digital technologies: hard law, soft law, and new
forms of legal coregulation 129
Ugo Pagallo
PART IV INTERDISCIPLINARITY
11 Interactional and contributory expertise in the debate around COVID
status apps: policy experiences in digital social science 141
Edgar A. Whitley
12 Anchoring accommodative communications in the digital age: reflections
on the rooting and branching of self in social interactions 161
Xiaojian Wu
13 Where is the body in digital science? 183
Stephanie Gauttier
14 A systematic literature review on conceptualizing disability in technology
studies 196
Anne-Marie Tuikka and Markus P. Zimmer
15 Digital parenting with a social robot: how can emerging technologies
contribute to enhance the quality of family life and mitigate ethical risks in
child development? 210
Ryoko Asai
PART V APPLICATIONS
16 Gaming through the eyes of children and adolescents: exploring the role of
digital games in children and adolescents' increasingly digitally mediated
lives 229
Vasiliki Koniakou, Vasiliki Chronaki, Nancy Pouloudi and George Lekakos
17 Digital social science and interpersonal relationships: formation of social
ties and changes in the structure of social networks 254
Gustavo S. Mesch and Matias Dodel
18 The internet and social media context: a Middle Eastern perspective on
digital inequality and digital oppression 268
Suad Almualla
19 Data specialists in Hollywood and the redefinition of production roles 282
Violaine Roussel
PART VI ETHICAL FUTURES
20 Digital experiential learning and remote research: meeting the ethics of the
moment with a growth mindset 298
Laura Robinson, Katia Moles, Keith Douglass Warner OFM and
Jennifer Merritt
21 Ethical considerations of digital research in the social sciences 314
Jessica Roberts
22 Existential appropriation in a digital age: the heart at the heart of digital
ethics 325
Chuck Huff and Almut Furchert
23 The convergence theory on digitalization and psychosocial life
environment: principles and actions for a good digital life for all 337
Gunilla Bradley
24 An end-to-end approach to ethical AI: socio-economic dimensions of the
production and deployment of automated technologies 346
Antonio A. Casilli and Paola Tubaro