Digital Communication Technology as an Institution

• In Event: Sociology of Sex and Gender Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11. Media, Digital Platforms, and Gendered Politics

Abstract

With the continued integration of digital communication technologies (DCTs) (such as personal cell phones, computers, and social media)sociologists face a pressing question: how should we theorize these technologies and their role in social life? Existing frameworks, such as affordance theory, can be insufficient for capturing how DCTs reproduce inequalities along lines of race and gender. Building on Longo’s (2003) theorizing of the Internet as a social institution, and drawing from theories on gender, I use Martin's (2004) criteria for identifying social institutions to argue that DCTs should be considered an emergent and distinct social institution. To make this case, I first engage with existing sociological theories of digital communication technologies and their role in our social world. I then position Martin's framework as the most complete approach for understanding how these technologies shape our social lives. Following that, I explicitly outline Martin's 14 criteria and discuss how DCTs fulfill each criterion. I conclude by calling for a more robust theorizing of DCTs and their potential impacts on other institutions, especially race and gender.

Author

• Alyssa J Davis, Vanderbilt University