10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17249
application/pdf
2038-3460
17249
1
en
Cosimo Marco Scarcelli
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/
Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Christian Fuchs, Social Media. A Critical Introduction, Sage, 2014
Text.Serial.Journal
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/
6
Book Reviews
2015-07-10
2023-06-17
2015-07-10
2023-07-31
166-169
TS
Cosimo Marco Scarcelli
2015/07/10
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/17249
166
University of Padova
2038-3460
1
en
169
Christian Fuchs, Social Media. A Critical Introduction, Sage, 2014
https://tecnoscienza.unibo.it/article/download/17249/16112
6
Book Reviews                                                         Tecnoscienza – 6 (1)

References
Bobbio, L. (2002) Le arene deliberative, in “Rivista italiana di politiche pubbli-
      che”, 3, pp. 5-29.
Bobbio, L. (2010) Il paradosso dell’expertise nei conflitti ambientali, in “Tecnosci-
      enza Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies”, 1(1), pp. 81-91.
Irwin, A. (2002) Citizen Science: A Study of People, Expertise and Sustainable De-
       velopment, London, Routledge.
Lorenzet, A. (2013) Il lato controverso della tecnoscienza: nanotecnologie, bio-
       tecnologie e grandi opere nella sfera pubblica, Bologna, Il Mulino.
Mol, A. (2010) Social Theories of Environmental Reform: Towards a Third Genera-
       tion, in M. Gross and H. Heinrichs (eds.), Environmental Environmental
       Sociology: European Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Challenges, Dor-
       drecht, Springer, pp. 19-38.
Pellizzoni, L. (2011) Conflitti ambientali. Esperti, politica, istituzioni nelle contro-
        versie ecologiche, Bologna, Il Mulino.
Phillips, L., Carvalho, A., and Doyle, J. (eds.) (2012) Citizen voices: performing
        public participation in science and environment communication, Bristol, In-
        tellect Books.
Schnaiberg, A. (1980) The Environment: From Surplus to Scarcity, New York, Ox-
       ford University Press.
Schnaiberg, A., & Gould, K. A. (2000) Environment and society: The enduring
       conflict, West Caldwell, NJ, Blackburn Press.
Urry, J. (2000) Sociology beyond societies: Mobilities for the 21st century, London,
        Routledge.
Wynne, B. (1996) A reflexive view of the expert-lay knowledge divide. Risk, envi-
      ronment and modernity: towards a new ecology, London, Sage.


                                        ***

   Christian Fuchs
Social Media. A Critical Introduction.
London: Sage, 2014, pp. 293

Cosimo Marco Scarcelli University of Padova

    Over the last few years there has been a slow but relevant reconcilia-
tion of two different approaches interested in media and technology: STS
and media studies. Both approaches ask similar questions concerning
media and Information Technologies; however, they are rarely discussed
together. Even though they can involve different empirical and conceptu-
Book Review                                                                167
al approaches, media studies and STS should be considered together in
order to achieve a deeper understanding of the issues around media and
technologies If the two studies were not maintained as distinctly hetero-
geneous intellectual spaces, a fruitful exchange could be started, with dig-
ital media as its base. The two traditions of study have coexisted for a
“long” time, and new media could be their ideal meeting point.
     For STS scholars, Fuchs’ book is a good starting point in approaching
media studies, and new media studies in particular. Even though it mainly
focuses on a critical perspective, this book accompanies the reader in in-
terpreting media theories and contemporary media studies. Unlike other
textbooks, “social media: a critical introduction” is not limited to compil-
ing a list of definitions of digital media, but it is a good overview of the
field, explaining the different ways in which scholars can approach new
media.
     Starting from the title, Fuchs’s critical perspective is immediately clear
to the reader, referring explicitly to marxism and neo-marxism (the au-
thor distances the discourse from other critical approaches, for example
in the introduction on p.7). This perspective places the distribution of
power and resources in the centre of the discussion. In relation to social
media, this approach (especially in the second part of the book, entitled
“application”) looks at exploitation and domination by studying the “po-
litical economy” of social media, and its “political communication”.
Fuchs’ perspective studies the political economy at work by looking at the
use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google. The
author shows that in the case of these examples, they both reflect the
power structures of society (the capitalistic structure) and exploit the data
that is provided to them for free by users.
     Fuchs touches on many of the most debated questions in social media
studies, such as the meaning of social media, the reality of participatory
culture and participatory democracy, the role of power and counter-
power, exploitation and surveillance on social network sites, the costs and
benefits of what is usually considered free services, and potentials for al-
ternative media. To chart this course, Fuchs divides “social media: a criti-
cal introduction” into three sections. The first is on the foundation of
critical approach and concepts in media (social media, participation and
power) needed for “critically understanding the world of social media”
(p.1). In the second part, the author discusses social media platforms in
the context of specific topics. In the last section he attempts to describe
alternatives for the future, that he calls “truly social media”. Every chap-
ter starts from a specific key question that Fuchs attempts to answer
through the field of social theory, critical approach and media studies.
Fuchs starts with the fundamental question “what is social media?”, and
moves from a description and in-depth criticism to a basic concept debat-
ed in the context of social media theory. The first chapter is an important
work in connecting social theory and media theory. In attempting to re-
spond to the principal questions, Fuchs cites important sociologists, con-
Book Reviews                                                Tecnoscienza – 6 (1)

necting what is today considered to be classical sociological thought to
the analysis of what is the quintessence of modernity: social media, since
“analysing continuities and discontinuities of the web requires social the-
ory foundation.” (p. 48). In order to achieve this, the author cites various
concepts: Emile Durkheim’s social facts, Max Weber’s social action and
social relations, Ferdinand Tönnies’ concept of community, and Karl
Marx's idea of co-operative work. Using these sociological key concept
(that STS frequently contributed to rearticulate) Fuchs explains different
understanding of sociality. Emile Durkheim’s notion of social facts, for
example, is useful to explain that “all software applications and media are
social because social structure are fixed and objectified in them. These
structure […] have an existence of their own, independent of individual
manifestation” (p. 38). Than Fuchs remembers that according to Max
Weber, social behaviour is a reciprocal symbolic interaction. In the Inter-
net it means that only platforms that enable communication over spatio-
temporal distance are social. Using Marx’s approach, instead, web plat-
form that enable the collaborative production of digital knowledge are
social. In sum, by using different classical sociological theory Fuchs shows
to the reader the different way to understand the meaning of sociality on
the WWW.
    Another concept analysed by the author is the so-called participatory
culture, that he explains using and questioning Henry Jenkins’s well-
known notions of participatory culture and spreadable media. Fuchs also
examines the concept of power, deconstructing Castell’s approach and
criticizing his position with the support of empirical research and theoret-
ical speculation.
    After a detailed introduction to the concept of social media and criti-
cal theory, Fuchs proficiently uses basic concepts he cites in the first part
of the book to analyse specific social media platforms, and provides case
studies on Google (chapter 6), Facebook (chapter 7), Twitter (chapter 8),
Wikileaks (chapter 9) and Wikipedia (chapter 10). He writes: “we live in
turbulent times that are shaped by worldwide inequality, global ecological
crisis, war and terrorism, high unemployment, precarious living and
working conditions, rising poverty levels etc. Can all benefit in this situa-
tion from social media? Or is it likely that only some benefit at the ex-
pense of others?”.
    Even though Fuchs writes through the specific “lenses” of critical
theory in this second part of the book, the large amount of concepts and
questions that he provides gives the reader a good idea of digital media
and culture. Digital labour, privacy, surveillance, ideology, alternative so-
cial media, visibility, and the public sphere, are only a small group of key
concepts that the author cleverly uses to achieve a closer analysis of social
media.
    In summary, this book gives the reader a good understanding of the
main debates concerning digital media. The book is a good resource ena-
bling those in the media studies field (including those studying a related
Book Review                                                            169
topic, as in the case of STS scholars) to have an idea of the principal de-
bates concerning social media.
    I would recommend that readers of this journal take a look at this
book, as it is an opportunity to shed some light on the gaps that exist be-
tween media studies and STS. Even if there are no explicit references to
the background of STS, those interested in science and technology stud-
ies will not struggle to find common ground with complementary reading
in a field that, in my opinion, requires the encounter of such important
conceptual approaches. Indeed Fuchs provides to underline the social
aspects connected to digital media. STS scholars could find useful some
of the author’s indication to feed one of the fundamental tenet of STS:
that material aspect of media and technology must be situated and stud-
ied within cultural, social and economic aspect. This book could give to
the readers important tools that could be useful to bring back the social
into discussion on media and technology. Finally, some of Fuchs’ concept
could be functional to a broader view that joins STS and new media stud-
ies because permit to say more about technology’s largest social effect,
without fall into technological determinism.
    To conclude, it is important to note that the structure of the book al-
lows the reader to navigate it easily. This is probably a greater advantage
for students, especially as both the questions and the key concepts at the
beginning of each chapter, and the recommended readings and exercises
at the end of the chapter, transform the text from a simple book to a good
starting point in approaching digital media studies.
