Communication Networks & Social Change

Communication, a key aspect of human activity, is crucial in the configuration of power relations among people, social groups or institutions. In an evolving landscape of media ecologies, digital technologies ensure the pervasiveness of communication networks. Such networks constitute the new social morphology of our societies and, avoiding techno-deterministic assumptions, we analyse how political, economic and, in general, social changes are shaped by them.  

 

Our research on social changes is developed from two perspectives that articulate the research lines: the first is the analysis of new forms of civil participation and political expression brought about by network movements and emerging techno-political practices; the second is the analysis of the role that mobile communication plays among non-central societal groups, mainly older people and low-income populations.

 

Using a multidisciplinary approach, the research methods move from more classical qualitative and quantitative methods to quantitative network analysis.  

 

By developing scientific knowledge in these vibrant areas, our research grouphelps better understand the crucial social changes of our contemporary societies.

 

More information: http://www.communicationchange.net