Dialectic of Digital Culture

David Arditi is associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Theory at the University of Texas at Arlington.Jennifer Miller is lecturer of English at the University of Texas at Arlington.

• Introduction: The Logic of Digital CultureDavid Arditi and Jennifer MillerPart I. Power in the Digital EraChapter One: Digital Hegemony: Net Neutrality, the Value Gap, and Corporate InterestsDavid ArditiChapter Two: Dialectics of Degrading Datafication: The Cultural Politics of Ecological Footprints in Earth System GovernanceTimothy W. LukeChapter Three: Government vs. Corporate Surveillance: Privacy Concerns in the Digital WorldBrian Connor and Long DoanPart II. Politics in the Digital EraChapter Four: Digital Culture, Media Spectacle, and the Trump PresidencyDouglas KellnerChapter Five: The (Digital) Future is Female: Between Individuality and Collectivity in Online Feminist PracticesAriella Horwitz and Lisa Daily Chapter Six: Queering the Straight World?: Mommy Blogs, Queer Kids, and the Limits of Digital AdvocacyJennifer MillerPart III. Culture in the Digital EraChapter Seven: On the Cultural Power of the “Marianas Web” MemeRobert W. GehlChapter Eight: Photography, Bibliography, Digitality, ParadoxTimothy MorrisChapter Nine: The New Old: Vinyl Records after the InternetMichael PalmPart IV. Being Human in the Digital EraChapter Ten: Digitized Music and the Aesthetic Experience of DifferenceNancy Weiss Hanrahan Chapter Eleven: Keeping Commerce Human: Contradictions of Digital Economy PlatformsMichele KrughChapter Twelve: From the Wild West to Silicon Valley: Shifting Models of Reproductive Medicine in North AmericaAmy SpeierConclusion: Avoiding Digital DisasterDavid Arditi

With a nod to Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's classic work of critical cultural studies, Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), in the title, this volume similarly seeks to challenge Enlightenment assumptions, namely that the embrace of science and technology results in human freedom, democratization, and social progress. Applying the critique and methodology of Horkheimer and Adorno's work on Enlightenment thinkers to postmodern ramifications of digital culture in the 21st century, editors Arditi and Miller (both, Univ. of Texas, Arlington) ably set the stage for 12 provocative essays in their introduction by outlining a dialectic approach to digital technology. An even balance is achieved through four sections organized by theme: power, politics, culture, and humanity; each section has three essays. The authors tackle the promise of technology to promote social justice and the contradictions or paradoxes that arise in practice, often outside the awareness of users. They also address thorny digital-era concepts such as net neutrality, streaming, and privacy with analytical insight and often a dose of editorializing that is critical of government and corporate interests in and control of technology.Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.