Sociology’s Stake in Data Science
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/13434Keywords:
data science, Dewey, computational social science, digital transformation, reflexivityAbstract
Data scientists gave sociologists pause when they started disturbing social life and research. This article considers three instances where data science made inroads into the sociology jurisdiction. Instead of calling for a defense, they reveal opportunities for sociological research in the digital age. These opportunities build on the data-analytic thinking that undergirds the discipline's more salient structures and conventions. They recall old sociological intuitions and pragmatist theory that conceptualize the research process in a way that leaves room for novel observations. From this perspective, data science can help integrate sociology around new problems and shared principles and enlarge it by introducing its ideas to different audiences.
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