From monads to networks

the rescue of an associative social for Digital Sociology

Abstract

We seek to relate the sociological proposals of Gabriel Tarde with contemporary perspectives of interceptions between sociology and the practices of data and digital methods, interpreting the emergence of the field of digital sociology from the rescue of an associative social. At first, we present the debate between Tarde and Durkheim, demonstrating two distinct conceptions of theorization and practice of the social sciences; then we point out the main questions elaborated by Tarde, and how we can understand and retrieve them today; finally, we discuss the issues of the constitution of a digital sociology, listing some of the problematizations and challenges pointed out by authors working on the theme. We argue that the progress of a digital sociology needs to be in accordance with a reconfiguration of what is meant by “social”; in this sense, we propose the recovery and updating of an associative social developed by Gabriel Tarde, allowing a sociological understanding that escapes a human exclusivity and involves current dynamics of the daily life mediated by digital technologies of information and communication.