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How do social scientists study the impact of social networking sites on racial identity formation? How has the Internet impacted the accumulation of social and cultural capital? By synthesizing insights across a variety of disciplines, this book builds an original theoretical perspective through which these and other questions about core social processes can be addressed. Three case studies of how African Americans use information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used to illustrate this theoretical perspective. They show how groups can leverage ICTs to overcome historical inequalities. The book argues that the lenses through which scholars and society's leaders think about new technology place too much emphasis on the technological and economic aspects of ICTs, and not enough on the impact of ICTs on social processes at the everyday level.

The Digital Practices of African Americans: An Approach to Studying Cultural Change in the Information Society

Contents: The Information Society - The Digital Divide - The Digital Practice Perspective - The Digital Practice of Weak Tie Development - The Digital Practice of Maintaining Family Ties via Mobile Phone - The Digital Practice of Maintaining Digital Enclaves - The Digital Practice Perspective and Social Policy: Improving the Social, Cultural, and Civic Quality of the Digital Environment - Conclusion: Smart Mobs, Flash Mobs, Flash Robs and the Revolutionary Potential of the Digital Environment.