Doctoral Thesis: A Social Theory of the Internet

A work in progress at the Ashworth Centre for Social Theory, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne

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Abstract

Dedication

Epigraph

"In the field with which we are concerned knowledge exists only in lightning flashes. The text is the thunder rolling long afterwards"

Walter Benjamin, Das Passengen Werk

Preface

1.0 The Internet As A Topic Of Social Inquiry

• 1.1 A Social Theory of the Internet: A Preliminary Review
• 1.2 Social Theory: Definition, Concerns and Directions
• 1.3 Definition and Devlopment of the Internet

2.0 Methodology And Literature Review

• 2.1 Literature Review Methodology
• 2.2 Literature Review I: Virtual Reality
• 2.3 Literature Review II: Virtual Community
• 2.4 Literature Review III: Cyberpunk Science Fiction

3.0 Critical Issues For The Internet

• 3.1 Critical Issues Methodology
• 3.2 Data Access
• 3.3 Data Expression
• 3.4 Data Security
• 3.5 Data Integration

4.0 The Internet And Modernity

• 4.1 Communications Technology and Social Development
• 4.2 A Network of Isocratic Republics

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