Durkheim and the Internet ― On Sociolinguistics and the Sociological Imagination

Sociolinguistic evidence is an undervalued resource for social theory, and in Durkheim and the Internet, Jan Blommaert uses contemporary sociolinguistic insights to develop another sociological imagination. Taking Durkheim as the point of departure, he first demonstrates how the facts of language and social interaction can be used as conclusive refutations of individualistic theories of society such as 'Rational Choice'. Next, he engages with theorizing the post-Durkheimian social world in which we currently live. This new social world operates 'offline' as well as 'online' and is characterized by 'vernacular globalization'. These fundamental changes, announced by theorists such as Castells and Appadurai, require a new set of theoretical and conceptual tools capable of capturing the complexity and dynamics of contemporary societies. In Durkheim and the Internet, Blommaert proposes new theories of social norms, social action, identity, social groups, integration, social structure and power, all of them animated by a deep understanding of language and social interaction.

Jan Blommaert is Professor of Language, Culture and Globalization and Director of Babylon, Center for the Study of Superdiversity at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.