0HV80 HTI in social context summary of
the book and the articles
HTI 2023-2024 - Marlieke Van de Venne
Book: Introduction to Sociology Frank van Tubergen ............................................................ 2
Chapter 1 .......................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter 2.1-2.4 ................................................................................................................. 9
Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 5: ....................................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 6 ........................................................................................................................ 24
Chapter 7 ........................................................................................................................ 28
Chapter 8 ........................................................................................................................ 36
Chapter 9 ........................................................................................................................ 39
10.2+10.4 ........................................................................................................................ 44
Chapter 12 ...................................................................................................................... 45
Papers ................................................................................................................................ 52
Thomas Hobbes' state of nature ...................................................................................... 52
Using the Internet: skill related problems in users’online behavior – Alexander van
Deursen and Jan van Dijk................................................................................................ 54
THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM, By Richard Swedberg 55
Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks .. 56
Frison and Eggermont (2016). Exploring the Relationships Between Different Types of
Facebook Use, Perceived Online Social Support, and Adolescents’ Depressed Mood .... 57
Hedström, P. and Swedberg.R. (1996). Rational Choice, empirical research, and the
sociological tradition European Sociological Review, 12, 2: only pp. 127-129.................. 58
Matzat, U. (2009) A theory of relational signals in online groups...................................... 60
Additional papers ................................................................................................................ 62
Exploring the relationships between different types of Facebook use, perceived online
social support, and adolescents’ depressed mood – Eline Frison and Steven Eggermont.
........................................................................................................................................ 62
Turkle, Sherry (2012, April 21). The Flight From Conversation. New York Times. ........... 63
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,Book: Introduction to Sociology Frank van Tubergen
Chapter 1
- HTI in social context is the scientific study of social phenomena related to technologies
that are embedded in a social context.
- This means that, if you want to give a social explanation of human technology-
mediated behavior, you need to consider the influence of social contexts (including
design of technology), and study the resulting collective human behavior.
1.1
Individual perspective: Type of explanation of human behavior which focuses on individual
causes
Social context: Social environment in which people are embedded
Sociological imagination / sociological perspective: Explanation of human behavior
which focuses on social causes
- the task for sociologists is to identify social causes of human behavior
Social phenomenon: Collective human behavior
What sociologists aim to understand is how, first, human behaviour typically results from
shared contextual conditions and how, subsequently, this gives rise to collective outcomes.
individual and sociological perspectives are alternative perspectives.
Sociological perspective
• Sociology is the scientific study of social phenomena. This means that, if you want to
give a sociological explanation of human behavior, you need to consider the
influence of social contexts and study the resulting collective human behavior.
• The sociological perspective examines social phenomena.
What sociologists aim to understand is how, human behavior typically results from shared
contextual conditions and how, subsequently, this gives rise to collective outcomes.
Sociologists sometimes argue that individual causes of human behavior are “proximate”
causes of behavior, not ultimate causes
Proximate causes: Factors that are close to the phenomena to be explained
- Proximate causes are explained by ultimate causes (also called “distal causes”).
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,Ultimate causes: Factors that underlie proximate causes
important social context example ( sociologists) the country in which people live/ school/
neighbourhood → shapes human behavior.
Micro level: The level at which individuals operate, lowest levels
Meso level: social conditions that individuals share in their immediate environment.
- Examples are: family, neighborhood, school, work organization, religious community,
political organization and social networks.
Macro level: social context that are broader than meso level units
- Examples: nations, groups of nations, continents.
In reality, the exact scale cannot be captured with three levels.
• For example, some neighborhoods may be small, others may be larger. And larger
neighborhoods may group together multiple families, so that it seems more
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, appropriate to speak of four or more levels
1.2
Social problem / public issue
1. goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual
o affects many people
2. is an issue about which many people are concerned personal trouble
personal trouble: problem related to the personal life of an individual
social problems fluctuate over time and differ across societies → bc problems change over
time and space (example obesity/ poverty)
-Other social problems → more locally concentrated, example: certain neighborhoods,
families and organizations, or only relate to specific segments or “social categories”
within societies, such as women or ethnic minorities
• examples social problems:
• Corruption in organizations
• Crime and unsafety in neighborhoods
• Bullying at school
• Violence and abuse in families
• Excessive income inequality
• Inter-ethnic tensions
• War and collective violence
• Refugee crisis
• Societal polarization
• Discrimination
• Mental health problems
• Erosion of social connections
• Terrorism
• High unemployment rate
• Global warming and pollution.
1.3 Aims of sociologists
➔ helps to clarify the
relationship
between social
problems and the
aims of sociology
Why are “social problems” and “social phenomena” different?
- Social problems have a normative dimension: desirable goals or values are
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, threatened, people want to solve this problem and politicians, policy makers and
organizations offer various measures and interventions to do so.
- In sociology, social problems are studied as social phenomena, which means that
they are not studied as a normative problem but as a scientific phenomenon of
interest. Understanding social phenomena thereby contributes to understanding and
solving social problems.
Describe: accurate description of the social phenomena. (example of changing crime rates,
the sorts of crimes)
Explain: scientific explanations for social phenomena (what causes globesity?)
Apply: apply and share its insights
Social intervention: social policy measure
- interventions are subject to scientific insights and empirical work and are targeted
towards reducing social problems.
Societal relevance
• relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems
• the scientific knowledge they produce in light of social problems
1.4 three types of sociological questions
Each sociological study starts with asking a question:
Normative question: question that entails value judgments (should)
Examples:
1. “Should we reduce income inequality?”
2. “Should we do more to combat the rise in crime?”
3. “Should we adopt positive-discrimination policies to boost the career of women?”
Scientific question
• question that does not entail value judgments. There are three types of scientific
questions
o descriptive (Q(d))
1. type of scientific question targeted towards describing phenomena
• how much, how many
o theoretical (T)
1. type of scientific question targeted towards understanding phenomena
• why is this happening
o application (Q(a))
1. type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific
knowledge
• What will happen in the future
• The answers to these questions are sociological applications,
such as predictions and interventions.
• Sociologist study the scientific aspects to social problems, rather than asking
normative questions
1.5 the art of asking good sociological questions
Reformulate ill-defined questions in precise questions
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