Social Media Freaks ─ Digital Identity in the Network Society

Social media has been transforming American and global cultural life for over a decade. It has flattened the divide between producer and audience found in other forms of culture while also enriching some massive corporations. At the core of Social Media Freaks is the question: Does social media reproduce inequalities or is it a tool for subverting them?

Social Media Freaks presents a cultural study of social media, focusing on issues of identity and inequality along six dimensions?race, class, gender, sexuality, transgender identity, and disability status. It presents original and secondary findings, while also utilizing social theory to explain the dynamics of social media. It also teaches readers how to engage social media as a tool for social activism and change.

Dustin Kidd is Associate Professor of Sociology at Temple University in Philadelphia. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Virginia in 2004. Kidd is the author of two previous books: Legislating Creativity: The Intersections of Art & Politics (Routledge, 2010) and Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society (Westview, 2014). He has also published articles and essays in The Hedgehog Review, AfterImage, Research in Political Sociology, The Journal of Popular Culture, Contexts, Sociology Compass, and The Journal of Arts Management Law and Society.