This book provides a comprehensive overview of the manifestations and interrelations of collectivity and power on the internet from a sociological point of view. It addresses questions on how different forms of internet-based collectivities (masses, crowds, movements, communities ) could be understood and differentiated from one another. It presents analyses on the role technical infrastructures of the web play for their formation, how the mobilization and organization of social movements and social protests has changed through social media, how work and decision-making processes are organized in open source communities and why the essential segments of the commercial internet are today concentrated in the hands of a few corporations who dispose over significant economic, infrastructural and rule-setting power.

Provides a valuable introduction to research discussions on the role of the Internet for society and the sociology of collective action Addresses how different forms of collectivities on the internet and social media can be understood and differentiated from one another Covers the diverse array of topics and issues currently discussed in the field of internet research

Autorentext

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dolata is Professor of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies at the University of Stuttgart (Germany).

Dr. Jan-Felix Schrape is Senior Researcher at the Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, University of Stuttgart (Germany).

Inhalt
Collectivity and Power on the Internet. An Introduction.- Masses, Crowds, Communities, Movements: Collective Action in the Internet Age.- Social Movements and the Internet: The Sociotechnical Constitution of Collective Action.- Open Source Communities: The Sociotechnical Institutionalization of Collective Invention.- Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market Concentration Competition Innovation Strategies.