[Air-L] Call for Proposed Abstracts for a Special Section on “Weber and the Digital Divide: Class, Status, and Power in the Digital Age”

[Massimo Ragnedda]

Dear Colleagues,



My colleague Glenn Muschert (Miami Univ.) and I are editing a special
collection of articles on Max Weber and the Digital Divide. We are
organizing a special journal section for the International Journal of
Communication (http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc), which will examine how Max
Weber’s theories may be used in studying digital inequalities. Indeed, this
project builds (in part) on some of the ideas explored in our previous
volume on *The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in
International Context *(Routledge 2013):
http://books.google.com/books?id=OgYx8URCnU4C.



Please see the attached Call for Proposals for details on the scope,
timing, and mechanics of this project.



Also, please feel welcome to post this call for papers widely and to
forward it to interested colleagues and students. We hope to see some
proposals from many of you, and for now, please feel welcome to be in
contact if you have any questions for us.









*C**all* *for Proposed Abstracts for a Special Section on*

*“Weber and the Digital Divide: Class, Status, and Power in the Digital
Age”*

*International Journal of Communication - **http://ijoc.org
<http://ijoc.org/>*

*Special Editors: Massimo Ragnedda, Northumbria Univ. (UK) & Glenn W.
Muschert, Miami Univ. (USA)*





Much of the literature on stratification in the digital sphere (i.e.,
digital divides) has focused on the fundamental material relations of
inequality present in the digital divide, often relying on Marxist/conflict
schools of thought. To broaden the scope, the current project turns to Max
Weber for new perspectives on stratification in the digital sphere. The
project will stimulate scholarly exchange about how social stratification
in the digital age is reproduced not only based on class dynamics (economic
aspects), but also by status/prestige (cultural aspects), and in group
affiliations
(political aspects). Access to the economic means of production can indeed
limit digital participation; however, Weber also posits that the process of
stratification expresses itself in two other forms, namely “status”
and “party.”
Potential contributors are invited to explore the importance of status and
political influence in a liquid society, such as the importance of prestige
in digital participation (or exclusion), or the influence of political
affiliation
upon digital divides. Papers may be theoretical and/or analytical in
nature, and should examine digital divides in relation to dynamics social
class (lifestyle and culture), social status (prestige and market
influence), and/or power (political impact/legitimacy). Submissions are
welcomed from scholars at all stages of their careers, and from various
relevant disciplines (sociology, communications, media studies, etc.).
Possible topics for articles include, but are not limited to:

· Interplay among economic (class), cultural (status), and/or political
(party) factors of digital divides.

· The role of digital participation/exclusion on individual and/or group
life chances.

· The relevance of skills (digital literacy), certifications, and and
legitimating credentials in digital divides.

· The role of status and prestige hierarchies in digital
participation/exclusion (or vice versa).

· Cultural meanings (including religious and/or secular value systems) and
digital divides.

· Political life (i.e., power relations) and dynamics of digital
inclusion/exclusion.

· Bureaucratic/institutional relationships and digital divides.

· Forms of rationality in the digital (e.g., *Zweckrationalität *vs.
*Wertrationalität
*/ ends vs. means rationality).

· The influence of worldview (*Weltanschauung) *on digital
participation/exclusion.

Submissions should be in the form of extended abstracts of around 750 words
in MS Word, sent as an email attachment to Massimo Ragnedda (
ragnedda at gmail.com) and Glenn Muschert (muschegw at MiamiOH.edu).



*The* *deadline for submissions is 1 April 2014. *



Abstracts will be judged on criteria of relevance and originality of topic.

Notification of initially-approved abstracts will be announced in
mid-April, after which contributors will be asked to move forward to the
peer-review submission phase. Contributions of 7000 words (maxi mum
including abstract, footnotes, tables/figures with captions, references,
and appendices, if any) will be due 1 July 2014. All submissions must
adhere to APA (6th edition) formatting to include:

· Any endnotes should be converted to footnotes.

· Authors must include their profile, including affiliation and rank, when
submitting a manuscript.

· All articles should include an abstract of 150 words.

· All articles must include a bibliography at the end that conforms to the
most current APA style.

· All spellings must be rendered in American English. To change British or
Commonwealth spellings to their

American equivalents, please see the *Merriam-Webster Unabridged
Dictionary.*

· Only one submission per author will be considered at a time.

Contributions will be subject to double-blind peer review, and to encourage
coherence in the special section, all contributors will be requested to act
as a peer reviewer for at least one other article. After all necessary
revisions and editing, the special section is scheduled to publish in 2015.







Also, please feel welcome to post this call for papers widely and to
forward it to interested colleagues and students. We hope to see some
proposals from many of you, and for now, please feel welcome to be in
contact if you have any questions for us.





With best regards,



Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn Muschert







-- 
Massimo Ragnedda
Lecturer in Mass Communication
Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK)
mragnedda.wordpress.com
http://notizie.tiscali.it/opinioni/Ragnedda/184/
skype: massimo.ragnedda

http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda
Twitter: @massimoragnedda