The Fabrication of Networked Socialities

Abstract

This chapter is dedicated to analyse the fabrication of networked socialities, that is to address the complex interweaving of technologies of information and communication and the manifold instantiations of sociality. Networked socialities are digital formations being produced out of the intertwining of social logics outside and inside digital spaces and society. Such contribution is organized as follows: first, it will present the theoretical frame necessary to grasp the fabrication of sociologies in our information age, drawing on some concepts elaborated by the social studies of science and technology, together with the studies of the global digital worlds. Then, it will highlight the analytical fruitfulness of this perspective by describing some digital formations, such as social network sites, virtual communities of practice, and electronic markets. Finally, it will discuss the effects and the implications of such fabrication as a re-configuration of social, the emerging post-social relationships as well as the increasing fragility of knowledge societies.