Toward a Network Sociality
Abstract
This article explores some current transformations of the social. It argues for a shift from a model of sociality based on community towards a network sociality. This shift is particularly visible in urban spaces and in the cultural industries. However, it seems to become paradigmatic more widely of the information society. The article is to be read as a cultural hypothesis. In the first part I introduce some examples that document the rise of a network sociality. Most of these examples are drawn from a two-year ethnographic study of London's new media. The second part consists of a critique of some theoretical accounts of contemporary transformations of sociality. The third part is an attempt to outline the concept of network sociality. It is a form of sociality that is ephemeral but intense, it is informational and technological, it combines work and play, it is disembedded and generic, and it emerges in the context of individualization.
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Communications between people become more ephemeral and more akin to an exchange of 'data' than deep, substantive or meaningful communication based on mutual understanding.
“What he means by this is that communications between people become more ephemeral and more akin to an exchange of 'data' than deep, substantive or meaningful communication based on mutual understanding.”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001
Since the goal of communication becomes the active construction or reconstruction of a social network, one has to 'consistently renew, refresh and revalue the existing contacts'.
“Since the goal of communication becomes the active construction or reconstruction of a social network, one has to 'consistently renew, refresh and revalue the existing contacts' (Wittel, 2001: 66).”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001: 66
Wittel built upon the network society thesis by charting the emergence of 'network sociality': a disembedded intersubjectivity which contrasts the 'belonging' of 'community' with the concept of 'integration' and 'disintegration' in a network.
“Andreas Wittel (2001) built upon the network society thesis by charting the emergence of what he called 'network sociality': a disembedded intersubjectivity which contrasts the 'belonging' of 'community' with the concept of 'integration' and 'disintegration' in a network.”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001
For Wittel, these social relations become primarily 'informational', not 'narrative'.
“For Wittel, these social relations become primarily 'informational', not 'narrative'.”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001
Such bonds were typified in the compressed social acts of 'catching up', networking, the half-hour business meeting, and speed dating.
“Such bonds, he argues, were typified in the compressed social acts of 'catching up', networking, the half-hour business meeting, and speed dating.”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001
Instead of gaining security through 'trust' and self-disclosure within the late modern context of mobility and disembeddedness, network sociality is an instrumental or commodified form of social bonding based on the continual construction and reconstruction of personal networks or contacts.
“Instead of gaining security through 'trust' and self-disclosure within the late modern context of mobility and disembeddedness, network sociality is an instrumental or commodified form of social bonding based on the continual construction and reconstruction of personal networks or contacts.”
From New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (2008) · cites this paper as Wittel, 2001
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“However, creators’ sense of intimacy—in the form of quantifiable sociality through “likes” and “hearts”—may, reminiscent of Wittel (2001), move toward connective rather than conjunctive sociality.”
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- Authors
- Wittel, A.
- Corresponding author
- Wittel, Andreas
- ORCID
- Wittel, Andreas
- Venue
- Theory, Culture & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2001-12
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 51-76
- ISSN
- 0263-2764 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-3616
- OpenAlex
- W2162551201
- Cited by
- 644
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 33
- FWCI
- 30.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Theory Culture & Society (publishedVersion)
- Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) (acceptedVersion)
- Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Social and Educational Issues
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Information Society and Technology Trends
- Social Sciences › Communication › Cultural Studies and Postmodernism
- Keywords
- sociality, community, information society, new media, cultural industries, urban space, individualization, work and play, disembedding, London
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