Infonomics

1. Infonomics U. Matzat Sociologie /HTI group School of Innovation Sciences TU/e email: umatzat@gmail.com

2. Today Two of the “big three” problems • Social order • Social inequality

3. Do you remember….. • …. old wine in new bottles • Or stated differently: new problems can be treated as old problems (but under new conditions) We transfer old and general theories to new problems

4. Problem 1: Social order in society (I) Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679, English) book: Leviathan (1651):

5. new problem • Successful knowledge sharing in a virtual team that aims at sharing knowledge through social media… • I will ask you in a few minutes how to apply the ideas of Hobbes to social media….

6. Under which conditions do people live together peacefully? Hobbes’ search for an answer uses: 1.) (simple) behavior about human nature 2.) conclusions based on these assumptions: what will people do when?

7. Hobbes’ assumptions about human nature People have goals / needs / aversions everybody fears death and injury, everybody needs food and water, and everybody wants wealth and honor To achieve their goals, people use property and knowledge (for instance to achieve a long life) Physical strength

8. Hobbes’ assumptions A thought experiment suppose there is no government, no laws, no morals that prescribe certain kinds of behavior This is what Hobbes calls the “state of nature” Further assumptions: goods are scarce (competition) people do not differ much in terms of physical power people are willing to use force to achieve their goals (given the fact that there are no moral standards)

9. Thomas Hobbes: conclusions In an area without a state, under scarcity and with people of equal strength there will be “a war of all against all" Het leven is dan "eenzaam, schamel , naar, wreed en kort“ Hobbes’ solution A powerful state forcing people not to make use of violence Powerful state is in the best interest of citizens Cooperative behavior does not emerge endogenously

10. Social Order II Scottish Moral Philosophy Adam Smith (1723-1790) David Hume (1711-1776) Adam Ferguson (1723-1816) Bernard de Mandeville (1670-1733 = one of the early ones) A. Smith: “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” (1776) “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” (1759)

11. Same question as Hobbes: When do people live together peacefully? Again: assumption about human nature ... But the assumptions emphasize other skills of people ... And there are some other assumptions about the conditions under which people live

12. Scottish Moral philosophers: assumptions people strive for goals, and behave to achieve them people’s behavior will be awarded or sanctioned through the reactions of others scepticism with respect to general altriusm (only for family)

13. Scottish Moral Philosophy: assumptions about conditions • social relations are a web of achievements and counter-achievements • people’s interests are inter-twined: • ”By helping myself I help you” • positive interdependencies between people! • a difference between intentions and objective consequences of behavior

14. Scottish Moral Philosophers: conclusions cooperative behavior “peaceful coexistence” is possible even without a strong central authority who enforces this peaceful behavior • humans help each other because them might need help themselves in the future

15. Scottish Moral Philosophers: conclusion Cooperation improves through: identifiability Long-term relations

16. Application: implications by Hobbes / Smith(this is not just old stuff ... It has implications now!) Construction: how do you shape neighborhoods? ICT: when do you expect problems on the Internet with social media? How do you manage an online community according to these two theories?

17. The problem of social order: subdivision Violence / order

18. Hobbes / Scottish Moral Philosophers What they have in common • Type of analysis: • assumptions of human nature in general (behavioral assumptions): goals, means • assumptions on circumstances • (different) conclusions about characteristics of society (war vs. peace) • differences • Competition vs reciprocity • negative versus positive interdependencies • Very different conclusions: disorder vs. order

19. Problem 2: social inequality Karl Marx: 1818-1883

20. Social inequality – Karl Marx • collectivistic theories (only at the macro-level) • History (of societies) is always the history of social classes and their struggles • Slave owner versus slaves • ... • ..... • capitalist versus workers • Final development had a specific goal: society without classes (communism!) Two different types of theories 2. individualistic theories about behavior of humans and groups under specific social conditions (capitalistic society); behavior has consequences for macro-level hier: mostly type 2 - theories

21. historical materialism Changes in the division of material resources shape the development of societies (“history”) historical materialism (core, NL “kale kern”) a Whatever mode of production prevails in a society, b every inequality in that society, c rests on some form of compulsion resulting from this mode of production; d this compulsion leads to a certain type of strife, e and sometimes this strife results in the abolition of the old mode of production with its ensuing forms of compulsion and the disappearance of old inequalities, f and under certain circumstances in the coming of equality.

22. Classic historical materialism a In societies with capital goods as the most important means of production and universal freedom of property and of labour (capitalists and workers), bwages of workers fall and profits of capitalists rise c because of the threat that capitalists dismiss workers and replace them by machines; d this threat results in violence by workers against capitalists, e and to the extent that workers become conscious of this compulsion and unite, they win this strife and abolish private ownership of the means of production, and f if the means of production become common property, the distribution of consumer goods among the inhabitants of this society will proceed according to their needs. part b: “law of capitalist accumulation”

23. Classic historical materialism • "accumulation": replacment of labour through machines • why?  centralisation hypothesis • a In capitalist societies • b the growing amount of capital gets concentrated in the hands of fewer capitalists • c because owners of small amounts of capital go bankrupt in the wake of price cuts by owners of large amounts of capital. • centralisation as unintended consequence of competition in the free market economy

24. Empirical test of the law of capitalist accumulation • No convincing evidence • New try: not absolute but relative differences

25. revisionist historical materialism: Eduard Bernstein a In capitalist societies without a constitution stipulating universal freedom of assembly, general suffrage for parliament, one vote for each inhabitant in elections for parliament and ….., bworkers do not become absolutely poorer, but they do become less well off in a relative sense; c workers improve their condition in an absolute sense, since the substitution of labour by machines, goes together with an increase in the skills of workers, whereas skilled workers are less easily compelled to accept lower wages than unskilled workers; workers become relatively poorer since skills cannot fully counter the threat that labour will be replaced by machines; d under these conditions the struggle of workers against capitalists becomes focused on the extension of political rights; ……; e the more workers unite into trade unions and labour parties, the more they gain through gradual reforms various social rights; f and with the extension of social rights, income disparities between workers and capitalists will narrow. 1850-1932

26. revisionist historical materialism • proposition c: Bernsteins "schoolingshypothese" • Substition of centralisation hypothesis: • a In capitalist societies • b the number of small capitalists does not decrease; it increases • c because the growing demand for consumer goods gives rise to new sectors of production, with large capitalists in old sectors offering little competition to small capitalists in new sectors.

27. Social mobility and socialism in the USA: Werner Sombart (1863-1941) Reference point: classic historical materialism a In capitalist societies b all inhabitants with respect to the freedom of labour and the right to own property are equal before the law; in actual fact, the longer these laws persist, the more difficult it becomes for workers to start their own enterprise and accumulate capital; c this is the case since established capitalists corner newcomers. Problem: there is no socialism in the USA

28. Social mobility and socialism in the USA : Sombarts’ mobility hypothesis a In capitalist societies without a feudal past and with uncultivated land not yet private property b more workers start their own business, making them upwardly mobile; c they do so because dismissal is less of a threat in these societies; d and since the workers of these societies experience upward mobility, their struggle against capitalists takes on peaceful forms. ==> de jure and de facto openness of society

29. Social inequality: questions on mobility • Sombart clarifies: inequality questions consist of different parts • Skewness and mobility • Differences between classic historical materialism (Marx) vs. revisionist historical materialism (Bernstein) partly about social mobility

30. Social inequality: questions on mobility • Bernstein 1: training ==> climbing up of workers • Bernstein 2: higher salary ==> more small owners = climbing up of workers • Marx 1: climbing down of works who remain without training • Marx 2: climbing down of smaller groups because of competition with larger owners • Questions about inequality have 2 parts: questions of skewness and mobility

31. Questions on skewness • a) relative differences: • Did the proportion of the income of the poorest 10 percent of the Dutch population during the past 10 years decrease? • Did the use of Amazon and bol.com increase more within the 50+ group less than within the <50 year group? • b) absolute differences: • How many people earn more than the minimum salary prescribed by law? • Do weakly educated people read too few books? • Do weakly educated people hardly use Facebook?

32. questions on mobility • a) intergenerational mobility: • How many daughters/sons have a higher education than their father? • b) intragenerational mobility: • How many people earn now more than 10 years ago? • How many people increased their digital skills substantially during the last 3 years?

33. inequalities Opdeling van ongelijkheidsvragen sinds Sombart mobility skewness Intra-generational differences Inter-generational differences absolute differences relative differences

34. Difference in income and earnings in the Netherlandsearnings of the richest 0.5%, 1% and 5% of the population as a percentage of the overall private earnings in NL year category

35. Gross salary of full time employees with different (increasing) education NL in 1979, 1985, 1995, and 1997; salary of employees with lowest education set on 100 education Very low somewhat low middle somewhat high Very high Bernstein‘s training hypothesis

36. Digital divide / digital inequality • Differences between social groups/categories in • Acess to the internet • Forms of use of internet • Dependent on: • Income, education, gender, age, ethnicity • “highly-educated people profit more from the internet” • How can inequality be reduced?

37. Digital divide / digital inequality • digital skills • consequences: position on the labor market, social capital, etc. • Bernstein’s training hypothesis • How to train people? • self-learning by trial-and-error • guided training / courses 37

38. Digital divide / digital inequality • Which digital skills? • Operational skills – yes, but in addition… • Formal skills (evaluation of quality of information) • Communication skills (group communication in social media!) • Ethical considerations 38

39. To do’s for next time • read Ultee et al. (2003). chapters 5 and 11