Political Action in the Network Society
Week 1: The network society
Lecture week 1
Rainie, L., & Wellman, B. (2014). Networked: The New Social Operation System. Chapter 2: The Social Network
Revolution. (pp. 21-59).
Castells, M. (2007). Communication, Power, and Counter-power in the Network Society. International Journal of
Communication, 1, 238-266. Available at:
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/46/35
Week 2: Echo chambers, filter bubbles and political polarization
Lecture week 2
Esteve Del Valle, M., & Borge Bravo, R. (2018). Echo Chambers in Parliamentary Twitter Networks: The Catalan Case.
International Journal of Communication, 12, 1715 – 1735.
Morozov, E. (2011). The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hidding from You (Book Review). Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/books/review/book-review-the-filter-bubble-by-eli-pariser.html
Dubois, E., & Grant, G.(2018). The Echo Chambers is Overstated: The Moderating Effect of Political Interest and
Diverse Media. Information, Commiunication & Society, 21 (5), 729-745.
Week 3: Cyber politics
Lecture week 3
Gerbaudo, P. (2019). The Digital Party. Introduction (pp. 1-19), London: Pluto Press
Bimber, B. (2014). Digital Media in the Obama campaigns of 2008 and 2012: Adaptation to the personalized political
communication environment [Special issue], Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 11 (2), 130-150.
Week 4: Networked participation
NO Lecture
Theocaris, Y. (2015). The conceptualization of digitally networked participation. Social Media + Society, 1(2), 1-14.
Dennis, J. (2019). Beyond Slacktivism, Chapter 1: “It’s better to light a candle than to fantasise about a sun”. (pp. 1-16)
Week 5: Journalism
Lecture week 5
Broersma, M., & Graham, T. (2015). Tipping the Balance of Power: Social Media and the Transformation of Political
Journalism. In A. Bruns, E. Skogerbø, C. Christensen, A. O. Larsson, & G. Enli (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to
Social Media and Politics (pp. 89-103). Routledge.
Witschge T., Anderson, C.W., Domingo, D. & Hermida Al. (2016). The SAGE Handbook of Digital Journalism. Chapter
6. (by Hermida, Al): Social media and the News.
Week 6: Social movements and networked action
Lecture week 6
Flanagin, A., Stohl, C. & Bimber, B. (2012), ‘Modeling the Structure of Collective Action’?’, Communication
Monographs 73 (1), pp. 29-54.
Gerbaudo, P. (2010). Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary
Activism. London: Pluto Press. Introduction. Available at: https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?
hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=paolo+gerbaudo+&btnG
Week 7: Information Disorder
Lecture week 7
Tandoc, E.C. Jr., Wei Lim, Z., & Ling, R. (2018) Defining “Fake News”, Digital Journalism, 6 (2), 137-153.
Tandoc, E.C. Jr., Wei Lim, Z., & Ling, R. (2019). Diffusion of disinformation: how social media users respond to fake
news and why, Journalism, Online First, pp. 1-18
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, Beckett, C. (2017). ‘Fake news’: the best thing that happened to journalism, LSE blogs, Available at:
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/76568/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Fake%20news%20the%20best%20thing%20thats%20happened%20to
%20journalism.pdf
Week 1: The Network society: how do digital media connect to politics in
the age of the Network Society?
Lecture
1. Syllabus
2. Networks and social network analysis
3. Network society
4. Networked individualism
5. Networked political communication
Exam 80% = 4 questions for 10 points each
example of Spain and far-right parties
Very OPEN questions that make us propose solutions / further research / think
● The Roman empire/ The Dutch empire as a networked society
● Mediated networks:
○ The internet
○ Network:
■ “a series of interconnected nodes” (Castells, 1996, p. 40) ex: stock
exchange market; political elites (MPs)
■ Characteristics:
● Binary logic (inclusion/ exclusion)
● Decentralized structures: they don’t have a clear core network ?
● Utility of nodes: if you’re not useful for the network you’ll no longer
be part of it
○ It’s not enough to study the node, you should study the relationship
○ Bitcoin as a network: a block chain
○ The tiki taka
○ In-degree centrality(case): no. of mentions
○ Out-degree centrality (case): how engaged with the network are you
○ Brokerage or Breaches: without them there is no network
○ Structural hole: breach/ broker
● Network society: “a society whose social structure is made up of networks powered by
micro-electronic-based information and communication technologies” (Castells, 2004, p. 3)
○ Causes:
■ Revolution in information technology
■ The restructuring of capitalism (information state)
■ Cultural social movements that emerged in the 1960s in the US and Western
Europe
○ The third revolution: the information revolution
● Networked individualism:
○ Causes:
■ Social network revolution
■ Internet revolution
■ Mobile revolution
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, ○ Result:
■ Networked individualism: a new social operating system
■ People have become increasingly networked individuals, functioning more
as connected individuals and less as embedded group members
■ The “new social operating system” describes the way in which we
communicate
NETWORKS = idea of connection in different locations
Roman Empire is an example to show that networks are not a new thing/concept = it has
always been there, mainly as a working concept. Now networks is used as a metaphor
Dutch Empire = for instance trade routes (1650)
European train networks (2017)
Social networks sites
Definition what is a network?
o “a set of interconnected nodes” (Castells, M., secondly most cited media scholar
who wrote “The Network Society” based on communication and information
technology and society) network was born when we started having relationships
between different nodes (individual aspects)
- Stock exchange markets
- Political elites (MPs)
Characteristics of the networks:
o Binary logic = whether you’re in or out in a network (for example being part in a
network of collegues)
- Inclusion
- Exclusion
o Decentralized structures = in the founding theory, networks per se are
decentralized, they do not have a core of individuals or organizations leading the
network. There might be a central according to some people, but not according to
Castells there is debate
o Utility of the nodes = if a node is not useful anymore, it will be no longer needed in
the network
Example: Bitcoin = internet currency. It provides the opportunity to create money for the first
time you can create currency
Global, not tight on a specific country
Decentralized = block chain
Fundamental concepts:
Node = a unit that possibly is connected (individuals, organizations, states)
Tie = a type of connection between the units of the network (that makes the team so
successful)
o Relationship = a specific type of connection
- Friendship
- Collegiality
- Love
What is A NETWORK? = it is a set of interconnected nodes. Networks are flexible,
adaptive structures that, powered by information technology (IT), can perform any task that
has been programmed in the network.
Example: Twitter
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, Nodes = users
Ties = who mention to whom
Tie strength = number of mentions
Centrality measures
o In-degree centrality = measures in this case the number of mention the users receive
(like you’re a politician and you’re popular and receive plenty of comments and
visualizations)
o Out-degree centrality = the number of the mention you send out ( leader in the
engagement)
Broker / Bridge = without a person that connects and allow the network, that relationship
cannot happen anymore
o Example: Working in a E-sport company
Cluster = term to define networks
Structural hulps = there is no relationship between these clusters
(this can happen in friends, companies, organizations)
Journalists used to be the brokers of information, now it is
decentralized
NETWORK SOCIETY
What is it? “a society whose social structure is made up of networks powered by micro-
electronic based information and communication technologies”
Causes
o Revolution in information technology
o The restructuring of capitalism (informational state) Individualization logic
o Cultural social movements that emerged in the 1960s in the United States and
Western Europe
The Hippies now they are all based in Silicon Valley and led
the new information communication technologies within
companies
New logic of openness rooted in cultural transformations (by
entrepreneurs being former hippies)
The Third Wave and the information revolution
Agricultural revolution based on land and seeds
Industrial revolution based on capital and labour
Information revolution based on knowledge and information information as power
NETWORKED INDIVIDUALISM
Causes
o Social network revolution
o Internet revolution
o Mobile revolution
Result
o Networked individualism = a new social operating system a new way to operate
and organize our society
Rainie, L., & Wellman, B. (2014). Networked: The New Social Operation System. Chapter 2: The Social Network
Revolution. (pp. 21-59).
Sociological perspective
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