The Platformization of the Family

"How do platforms get into the family home and how do families get platformized? Many books have tried to analyze the political-economic nature of platform power; this book demonstrates how platform power has deeply penetrated the nucleus of social life. It is a real eye-opener as it helps us better understand the intricate dynamics between social media apps and the families they "glue" together." —José van Dijck, Professor of Media Studies and Digital Society, Utrecht University, Netherlands, and author of The Platform Society (Oxford UP). "This short but empirically and theoretically rich book suggests a much-needed research agenda for the platformisation of the family. In eloquent nuance, it discusses the ways in which macro-structural conditions of contemporary platform society affects the micro-social relations within everyday family life, carefully avoiding alarmist dystopian jargon as well as affirmative techno-optimism. A must-read for anyone interested in relation between the affordances of technology and the social dynamics of the family." —Göran Bolin, Professor, Department of Media & Communication Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden This open access book outlines how the digital platforms that mediate so many aspects of commercial and personal life have begun to transform everyday family existence. It presents theory and research methods to enable students and scholars to investigate the changes that platformization has brought to the routines and interactions of family life including intergenerational communication, interpersonal relationships, forms of care and togetherness. The book emerged from a seminar jointly funded by the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe project, the Norwegian Research Council and The Australian Centre of Excellence for the Study of the Digital Child. Julian Sefton-Green is Professor of New Media Education at Deakin University, Australia. Kate Mannell is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child at Deakin University, Australia. Ola Erstad is Professor of Education at University of Oslo, Norway.