Governing the Digital Society
Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values
José van Dijck editor Karin van Es editor Anne Helmond editor Fernando van der Vlist editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Amsterdam University Press
Publishing:27th May '25
£118.00
This title is due to be published on 27th May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Digital technologies have rapidly become integral to communities and societies, bringing both significant benefits and serious concerns. Issues such as misinformation, disinformation, online polarization, discrimination, and widening inequalities have prompted a critical and urgent debate: Can digital societies still be effectively governed? This book brings together insights from various disciplines to address the pressing question: “How can we develop and apply principles of (good) governance in digital societies that are organized democracies?”
Governing the Digital Societypresents a range of governance approaches, focusing on online platforms, artificial intelligence, and the public values that underpin these technologies. The authors position themselves at the forefront of their disciplines, offering perspectives from law, critical data studies, urban studies, science and technology studies, computational linguistics, and the political economy of media. Expert interviews provide additional insights into ongoing efforts to tackle the challenges of governing digital societies. The book demonstrates that governance is not just a technical or legal process but a complex societal one, embedding norms, values, and morality into our institutions and daily lives.
"In an age where platforms and AI are compromising the missions of our public sectors, the influence of tech tycoons has pervaded the political sphere and the world is aflood with digitally generated and sustained misinformation, how can – and should – digital societies be governed? This is the question this accessible, multi-disciplinary and comprehensive volume seeks to answer. It will be valuable to anyone, in academia and beyond, concerned with safeguarding our public values in the current tide of digitalization as a non-democratic and profit-seeking force." --
Tamar Sharon, Professor of Philosophy, Digitalization & Society, Radboud University Nijmegen
"This timely edited volume poses the urgent question of how digital societies can be effectively governed in an era where digital platforms and AI systems have become core socio-technical infrastructures. Grounded in robust theoretical frameworks, this book delivers rigorous, interdisciplinary research substantiated by empirical studies." --
Jo Pierson, Professor of Responsible Digitalisation & Head of School of Social Sciences, University Hasselt
"What is the meaning of “good governance” in democratic digital societies? How can these spheres foster safety, inclusion, and transparency? Drawing on diverse case studies, this excellent volume demonstrates that there are no simple answers; advancing one value often compromises another. Offering a rich account of the intersections between stakeholders and the technologies they build, manage, and consume, Governing the Digital Society is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners working to shape better digital futures." --
Limor Shifman, Professor at the Department of Communication and Journalism, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel & the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences
"Governing the Digital Society examines whether digital societies can still be effectively governed. This volume brings together scholars exploring emerging issues—such as decentralized platforms and AI regulation – with those offering new analytical perspectives on existing debates, including content moderation and spyware. Through research and expert interviews, it offers critical insights into the future of digital governance. --
Robyn Caplan, Assistant Professor of Technology Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
ISBN: 9789048562718
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
264 pages