Social Sciences of the Internet

A broad field that applies social science disciplines to the internet as a whole—its infrastructure, governance, political economy, and cultural practices. It examines internet architecture (protocols, data centers, fiber optics) as social artifacts, the role of standards bodies and regulation, the emergence of online communities, and the global digital divide. It also studies phenomena like surveillance capitalism, platform monopolies, digital labor, and internet activism. The social sciences of the internet treat the network not as a neutral tool but as a contested terrain shaped by power, capital, and collective action.

Example: “Her social sciences of the internet research revealed that the ‘neutral’ design of TCP/IP actually embedded assumptions about trust and openness that later enabled surveillance and centralized control—choices that could have been made differently.”

Sociology of the Internet

A subfield focusing on the social structures, interactions, and inequalities that emerge from and shape internet use. It draws on classic sociological concepts—social networks, stratification, institutions, collective behavior—to analyze online phenomena like digital divides, algorithmic sorting, online communities, and the transformation of public spheres. The sociology of the internet also examines how offline hierarchies (race, class, gender, nation) are mapped onto digital spaces, and how users resist or subvert those hierarchies through collective action.

Example: “His sociology of the internet study showed that moderation practices in large Discord servers often reproduced racialized policing—with users of color disproportionately banned for ‘tone’ violations while white users received warnings.”

Social Sciences of the Internet by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal April 16, 2026