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Towards a Sociology of Education and Technology

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Contemporary Debates in the Sociology of Education

Abstract

Without doubt, one of the defining features of the past 30 years has been the ongoing development of digital technology. The scale and pace of innovation in technologies such as computing and mobile telephony has prompted many commentators to portray societal development (at least in the overdeveloped regions of North America, East Asia and Europe) as being more technologically driven than ever before. Manuel Castells (2006, p. 3), for example, puts it as follows: ‘we know that technology does not determine society: it is society’. While a good case can be made for approaching such statements with some scepticism, it is nonetheless undeniable that digital technologies are deeply implicated in contemporary social life.

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Authors
  1. Keri Facer
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  2. Neil Selwyn
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Surrey, UK

    Rachel Brooks

  2. Durham University, UK

    Mark McCormack

  3. University of Southampton, UK

    Kalwant Bhopal

Copyright information

© 2013 Keri Facer and Neil Selwyn

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Cite this chapter

Facer, K., Selwyn, N. (2013). Towards a Sociology of Education and Technology. In: Brooks, R., McCormack, M., Bhopal, K. (eds) Contemporary Debates in the Sociology of Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137269881_13

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