Sociology 3280 (click to access class web site)
The Networked Society
Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30-1:45 PM in 449 SSB.

Explores the effects of modern information technology on societies worldwide. Covers the ways in which new technologies of communication have created increasingly networked local and global societies, as well as to the ways in which they have created new social problems.

Specifically, students will be expected to:

• Develop an understanding of the historical significance of technological innovation as a critical element underlying social change.
• Understand the process of the social construction of technology and the impact of socially structured reality on technological innovation.
• Develop a familiarity with the various sociological theories which seek to explain the complex, dialectical relationship between society and technology.
• Be familiar with contemporary trends in technological development, and be able to assess the relationship between modern society and technology as a qualitatively different interdependency than in previous historical epochs.
• Analyze the impact of modern electronic communication on individual, social and group identity; and assess the impact of related changes on human interaction.
• Analyze the impact of technological change on various substantive areas of social life: work, political economy, social stratification, deviance, etc.

This is a Web-based class. Students in the Internet-only section are not required to attend "live" sessions, but are welcome to come, anyway (in-person or via Collaborate). Students in this section who cannot attend the live class sessions are expected to view the Collaborate recordings of each Monday and Wednesday class session. See Collaborate for information on "online attendance" and accessing recordings of class sessions.