Digitalization of Society and Socio-political Issues 1

Conclusion

As we have seen from the chapters of this first volume, the dimensions of “the digital” that have been discussed are inextricably linked to each other. Numbers, digitalization, quantification, Big Data, algorithms, digital social media and platforms – all these terms refer to changes at work and the process of “digitalization of society” today. However, it is impossible to decide whether these are developments or a revolution, continuities or ruptures, “simple” changes or major mutations. As can be seen from the chapters, many analyses suggest continuity in some respects, as well as elements in favor of certain breaks, unless it is primarily a question of an acceleration of more or fewer recent trends. The answer to these questions also depends, of course, on the objects studied and the temporality of the observations.

C.1. The example of digital platforms and changes at work

Let us take the subject on which we are working in the context of funded research, namely the places and roles of new intermediation services in the changes in culture and media in the digital age¹. Thanks to the creation of digital platforms, these new services offer new forms of intermediation (web-based services, no advertising, premium services, low-cost subscriptions, etc.) that compete with “traditional” distributors of information and cultural products. These new services, often resulting from the communication industries (IT, telecommunications, the Web), rely on financial capacities ...