Reassembling Sociology: Digital Turn and Searching for New Theoretical Optics

With the growth of the methodological possibilities of research using digital data in sociology, there is a need for theoretical model corresponding to digital research tools. The aim of the article is to reconstruct possible theoretical optics for sociology from the point of view of the more effective use of digital methods and data analytical potential. The article attempts to outline such a theoretical model corresponding to digital research tools. Based on the thesis about the dependence of theories on methodological research tools, the idea of turning digital traces into an independent object of social research is developed. The concept of replications, proposed by the French sociologist Dominique Boullier and rooted in the sociology of Gabriel Tarde, is viewed as a promising theoretical framework for conceptualizing digital traces. The theoretical optics of digital traces as replications is interpreted as the basis for rethinking the micro-macro problem.

Keywords

digital data, digital traces, sociological theory, structure, replications, actor-network theory, Tarde, Latour

Acknowledgment

The paper is funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 19-011-00905 A).

Received

23.11.2021

Publication date

22.12.2021

Number of characters

28984

Cite

GOST	Dudina V. Reassembling Sociology: Digital Turn and Searching for New Theoretical Optics // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2021. – Issue 11 C. 3-11 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250016829-4-1-en (circulation date: 08.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250016829-4
MLA	Dudina, Viktoriya "Reassembling Sociology: Digital Turn and Searching for New Theoretical Optics." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 11 (2021):3-11. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250016829-4
APA	Dudina V. (2021). Reassembling Sociology: Digital Turn and Searching for New Theoretical Optics. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (11), pp.3-11 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250016829-4

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