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Five perspectives on the digital: a sociological interpretation
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DOI：10.1186/s40711-025-00248-w.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
The term digital is now central to most contemporary discussions of social development, yet its referent remains ambiguous. Its meaning is often reduced to a narrow understanding of technical conditions and tools. This article distinguishes five perspectives on the meaning of digital: technical digital, value digital, action digital, cultural digital, and normative digital, offering a sociological interpretation of its connotations. From this standpoint, the concept digital is multi-faceted. It can be conceptualized as: (1) the material basis of digital society; (2) a symbolic value representation; (3) a social dispositif for coordinating action; (4) a fluid cultural situation; and/or (5) a set of normative social requirements. Differentiating these nuanced perspectives of the term helps move beyond essentialist accounts grounded solely in technological determinism, better enabling an analysis of the open-ended social logic of digital society. This article, then, lays an important foundation for advancing digital research and underscores the need to construct a coherent conceptual system delineating the digital while outlining potential pathways for such development.
Keywords:
Digital society
Digital sociology
Perspectives on the digital
Cultural digital
Normative digital
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1.3
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