[Air-L] CfP: Out of Order? Critical Reflections on Big Tech, Inequalities and Digital Futures

[Harrison Smith]

Out of Order? Critical Reflections on Big Tech, Inequalities and Digital
Futures
2025 Research Symposium, The University of Sheffield, UK


Organized by the Digital Society Network and the Department of Sociological
Studies’ Social Inequalities and Social Ordering Research Theme

June 27th, 2025. Times and location, TBA.
Abstract submission deadline: May 10th.

The increasing consolidation of wealth and power in the tech sector has
become a focal point for reflecting on social ordering, the intensification
of social inequalities, and understanding digital futures.

It is now impossible to ignore Big Tech. For many, we are now confronted
with a feeling of apprehension about how the world is being re-ordered and
what kind of future we are entering. From algorithms, data centres, and AI
platforms that shape our everyday lives to powerful elites working to
dismantle government infrastructure and automate work under the auspices of
ushering in a new era of AI-fueled efficiency, there is now a larger
apprehension that the future is volatile, chaotic, falling apart, and out
of order.

This symposium aims to bring together researchers of any career stage
interested in Big Tech. We aim to create an interdisciplinary space to
critically reflect on Big Tech, share ongoing research endeavours, develop
collaborative research programmes, and discuss ways in which we can
intervene in a world out of order. We welcome submissions addressing any
topic that pertains to the social, political, economic, and cultural
implications of Big Tech and social ordering. Submissions can include (but
not limited to): theoretical reflections, empirical research, policy/impact
projects, and creative/artistic projects.

If you would like to contribute a presentation at this symposium, please
email a short title, abstract and bio to Harrison Smith (
harrison.smith at sheffield.ac.uk) and/or Laura Connelly (
l.connelly at sheffield.ac.uk) by May 10th. Please note that this will be an
in-person event, and attendance will be limited to presenters. There are no
symposium participation fees.


Plenary Speaker
Devika Narayan, Bristol Digital Futures Institute
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/devika-narayan

We are delighted to welcome Devika Narayan as the plenary speaker for this
research symposium. Devika’s research examines the political economy of
digital platforms and data infrastructures, and critically reflects on key
issues of organizational restructuring and governance, particularly in the
Global South. Devika will be presenting a paper entitled:


Untethered: Scalable Computing and the Acceleration of Industrial Change

This talk examines the impact of a highly concentrated tech sector on firm
practices across industries. I intend to answer three questions: 1) What is
distinctive about computing technologies today? 2) What is the contemporary
structure and organisation of corporate computing? 3) How does this
configuration of computing relations impact capitalist logics? Overall, my
claim is that digital technology and the tech sector intensifies volatility
and chaos in capitalist industries through new forms of abstraction,
modularity, and outsourcing. New tools and techniques of rapid
experimentation speed up not just expansion and growth but also speed up
the interruption and devaluation of established firm practices. Overall, I
contribute a theoretical framing of machinic hyper-flexibility and chronic
instability.


-- 
*Dr Harrison Smith - **Lecturer in Digital Media and Society*
*Programme Lead - BA Digital Media & Society*

Department of Sociological Studies
Office: The Wave, C454
The University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TU