Sociology of the Internet

The Sociology of the Internet examines the social dynamics and cultural implications of the internet as a transformative technology. This field explores how the internet reshapes social interactions, community structures, and individual identities, reflecting broader societal trends and values. Researchers investigate various phenomena, including online communication, social networking, digital activism, and the influence of online platforms on public discourse.

Additionally, the discipline addresses issues of digital inequality, considering how access to technology varies across different demographics and regions. It also analyzes the effects of internet culture on social norms and behaviors, such as the impact of anonymity and online communities on interpersonal relationships. Through its diverse perspectives, the Sociology of the Internet seeks to understand both the opportunities and challenges presented by digital connectivity, making it a vital area of study in our increasingly networked world. This field encourages a critical examination of how the internet shapes societal structures and individual experiences across different cultures and contexts.

Published in: 2021

By: Zimmer, Scott

Subject Terms

Sociology of the Internet

Abstract

This article discusses the sociology of the Internet, examining it as a source of research tools in the field of sociology and as the subject focus of the research. Sociology is defined as the study of groups of people and the ways they interact with one another in different contexts such as work, family, and leisure. The study of the sociology of the Internet broadens the traditional approach to include online gatherings of people. These online groups include social-media communities such as Facebook and Twitter, online discussion forums, and decentralized forms of online interaction such as instant messaging, chat, and videoconferencing.

Overview

The Internet has exerted a profound influence upon society since its earliest days in the late 1960s as the government project ARPANET. The Internet is fundamentally a resource through which computers (and hence, the users of those computers) to share information over vast distances. The information-sharing function has been used primarily as a method of communication between people, with discussion groups and bulletin boards dating back to the late 1980s. Internet connectivity and tools provide support for traditional sociological research. The Internet, and how people interact online, is also the subject of sociological research. Internet groups are distinctive for a number of features of interest to sociologists.

Applications

The ability to communicate informally with friends and strangers without regard to geography has had significant effects of interest to sociologists. The limits and features of texting, messaging, and e-mailing, for example, have generated a vital form of modified language. Examples of Internet slang include "brb" (be right back), "lol" (laugh out loud) and "nsfw" (not safe for work, typically used to warn someone that clicking on a link will cause the computer to load images containing nudity, probably against company policy). Online forums offer the benefit of impromptu meeting places where technical help, personal advice, or discussion of shared interests is available at any hour. The advantages of anonymity, coupled with release from the restrictions of place and time have enabled evolutions in realms of human behavior that include crime, romance, and project development.

Data Collection. Researchers use tools such as online surveys in order to collect data that they need to answer their research questions. For example, if a sociologist wants to study the number of romantic relationships the average person is involved in before becoming married, the researcher may distribute a survey asking people this question. In the days before the Internet, this might have involved visiting different groups in person and asking those present if they would be willing to complete the survey. This could be very time consuming, as it might require a great deal of travel and the researcher would need to record each participant's responses in his or her results. A much faster approach is possible with the help of computers and the Internet; the researcher can construct an online form and send a link to the form in an e-mail to all prospective participants. When they respond, their responses can immediately be transferred from the online form into a database where they can be analyzed.

Anonymity. One of the most often studied effects of the Internet is the influence of partial or complete anonymity on people's behavior toward one another. Unlike face to face communication, relationships that exist exclusively on the Internet allow the participants to create personas that may be very different from their real identity. For example, a woman interested in football might join an online discussion group devoted to the subject. Knowing that most of the other members will be male and likely to treat her differently, she might register in the group using a man's name and simply pretend to be "one of the guys." Another, related area of interest for sociologists studying the Internet is that online communities differ from face to face gatherings in the fact that online communities can form purely out of shared interests without the constraints of geography. This has implications both for the online groups being joined and for the in-person groups whose membership declines because of the availability of an alternative. Thus, a person living in a rural area might choose to spend time online interacting with those who share his or her interests, rather than spending it with other residents of the surrounding area. This decision would be of interest to sociologists because it changes the way people form and maintain relationships.

Some sociological research focuses on criminal behavior rather than on social inequities. For almost as long as the Internet has existed, there have been those who seek to use it for nefarious purposes. One common form of Internet crime is identity theft, in which criminals seek to acquire the personal details of individuals in order to impersonate them online for financial gain, thus leveraging the anonymity offered by online communication into a tool for illicit gain. Some identity thieves try to acquire the information they want by breaking into the customer databases of large corporations, while others try to obtain it by sending misleading e-mails asking the recipients to "verify" their financial details, including bank account information, passwords, and social security numbers. Illegally obtained information may then be sold or distributed through channels that are part of the "dark web," or parts of the Internet not openly accessible through standard browsers. Such black market online activity can also involve trade in physical goods and services, ranging from stolen or counterfeit merchandise to human trafficking. Criminals often seek to hide their identity through anonymous browsers, such as Tor, that use complex methods to block other parties from identifying the user. Significantly, such programs are also used by noncriminals seeking anonymity for various reasons, such as cyberbullying or government repression, and sociologists, among other scholars, have examined the often blurred line between providing privacy and enabling illegal activity.

There are whole communities of "hackers" online that exist so that online criminals can share techniques and seek advice from one another about how to perpetrate their crimes. One such community that has attracted a great deal of attention calls itself Anonymous. Anonymous presents itself as part crime syndicate and part avenging angel; the group punishes targets by defacing their websites, revealing the targets' personal information to the world, or using "denial of service" attacks to prevent customers from being able to access the target's website. Anonymous often selects a target on the basis of some degree of perceived guilt attributable to the target's political stance or its treatment of a particular group. Sociologists seek to understand the motivations for this type of cyber-vigilante behavior, as well as how power relationships are formed and expressed in online communities like Anonymous.

Online Dating. The Internet is not solely a negative cultural force to be studied by the sociological researcher; there are more positive aspects that are also worthy of attention. Online dating, which expanded in popularity during the first decades of the twenty-first century, parallels the formation of Internet affinity groups, inasmuch as those who seek a romantic connection over the Internet are not limited to those who live in the same part of the world as they do, but can instead form bonds based on common interests and shared experiences. Recent statistics show that more than one out of every ten people in the United States has tried online dating sites.

Sociologists theorize that there are a number of different circumstances that might explain this high level of interest. For example, the hectic pace of the modern world leaves very little time for people to break from their routines by venturing out to meet someone new. Online dating offers an alternative that people can take advantage of from anywhere they have an Internet connection, and thanks to the asynchronous nature of many Internet communication platforms, people can send and receive messages from potential mates at any time of the day or night. Online dating also is often seen as less threatening by those who suffer from some form of social anxiety, because online encounters are often not conducted in real time. An embellished online persona can lend extra confidence to the person hiding behind it, a benefit that would not be possible during a face-to-face meeting.

Online dating presents an interesting field of study for sociologists who concentrate on courtship behaviors and the formation of romantic attachments. Traditionally these phenomena operated primarily according to random circumstances, as people whose paths crossed in the real world formed bonds that led to deeper feelings later on. In the realm of online dating, however, the driving force behind romantic attachments can be shared interests and attitudes, as measured by the online profile builders used by most online dating sites as a means of determining which participants have a high chance of being compatible with each other. One area of interest for researchers is the question of whether, over the long term, relationships based on theoretically compatible profile data tend to last longer and produce more satisfaction than relationships formed solely through face-to-face meetings.

Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding. The Internet has made new approaches to entrepreneurship possible as well, and product developers use the Internet to recruit interested parties to help fund the development of their products. Sociologists study such meetings between the worlds of business and social interaction in order to learn about how people are motivated to spend their money online and what factors can cause people to place their faith, as well as their finances, in plans that may never come to fruition. One prominent example of this type of Internet group is Kickstarter.com. Such "crowdfunding" sites allow a person with an idea for a product or service, but insufficient capital to launch the product or service, to tell others about the idea and ask them to pledge a small amount of money to support the product. If enough of these contributions are raised, then the idea can be implemented. Investors in this type of scheme are usually motivated by the promise of being able to acquire the product being financed. The project developer will usually offer some form of compensation to investors if the project becomes a reality

Viewpoints

The topics of interest to sociologists studying the Internet are as varied and distinct as those in the real world, but some attract more attention than others. One of these is the "digital divide," a phrase that describes the effect resulting from the fact that not everyone can afford the technology needed to access the Internet and regularly participate in its culture. The inequalities that produce the digital divide have effects that go far beyond simply interfering with one's ability to check e-mail; lack of access to technology in the modern economy impacts almost every sector of life—particularly the process of finding employment and the potential for a way out of poverty. The digital divide has an isolating effect on those who do not benefit from new technologies. Further, it tends to perpetuate itself as those who are cut off from online interaction tend to remain that way until their financial circumstances change, which becomes less likely as it become more difficult to discover job postings and other opportunities to escape it. By studying the digital divide, sociologists hope to find new means of neutralizing its effects.

The Internet presents a rich variety of topics and tools for sociological researchers. Moreover, the Internet is similar to a country whose geography is constantly changing. Every day new groups of users form affiliations and old groups begin to fray at the edges or to dissolve completely, as members take on other interests and form new alliance groups. What is more, the many constituencies on the Internet do not act in isolation, but are constantly influencing each other, reflecting one another's views and behaviors not unlike a vast echo chamber. An often referenced object used to explain how Internet culture works is the meme, which is usually defined as an idea that spreads like a virus, infecting new hosts by replicating itself over and over again to new audiences. On the Internet, memes are frequently embodied in imitable and manipulable images posted and reposted virally on social media sites. Sociologists studying Internet culture strive to keep up with this constant evolution of old concepts, including stories and jokes, into new ones directed at targets completely different from their original sources.

Terms & Concepts

Cyberculture: The culture that has developed around the use of the Internet as a medium for communication, entertainment, and shared experiences.

Denial of service attack: An attack on a targeted website which overloads the target server with fake Internet traffic in an attempt to prevent legitimate traffic from reaching the site. When the target is a large online retailer, this type of attack can become very costly in a short period of time.

Digital divide: The disparity in access to technology and online interactions caused by economic inequality in society.

Hacking: A term sometimes used to describe illegal activity conducted on the Internet, such as breaking into secure websites or stealing proprietary data. The original meaning of the term referred to tinkering with technology in order to make it do more interesting things, but gradually the popular media appropriated the term and applied it solely to criminal or unethical conduct on the Internet.

Internet slang: A collection of acronyms, abbreviations and invented terms used to communicate on the Internet. Because most online communication involves typing, which can be time consuming for those without formal training, Internet slang usually emphasizes brevity and ease of entry on a keyboard.

Online forum: A website or other online resource that people connect to in order to engage in discussions with other users. Typically forums will allow users to create and configure user accounts on the forum and then use these accounts to post messages and ask or answer questions.

Social media: Online communities that allow users to create profiles describing themselves and their interests and then interact with others' profiles.

Bibliography

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Sociology of the Internet

On this Page

Subject Terms

Sociology of the Internet

Abstract

Overview

Applications

Viewpoints

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

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