This book explores the significance of new information technology for socio-cultural change and provides ethnographic insight into the early days of remote working. It draws on long-term anthropological fieldwork among people in rural Denmark working from home via the internet. Going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, the study demonstrates how remote and flexible working was mostly practiced informally, fostering incremental changes to the cultural domain of 'work'. It captures the dilemmas arising from living with multiple arenas and the challenges of balancing work and family life - a predicament which motivates many to embrace remote working. The volume contains an updated introduction and conclusion where the author reflects on the historical moment of his fieldwork and on the impact of the recent Covid-19 pandemic on working practices. The book offers a valuable comment on how to empirically study the social and cultural significance of new information technologies, as well as how to think of and empirically research change anthropologically, situating information technology in a broader offline context of unfolding complex living. It will be of interest to scholars of social anthropology and digital ethnography, as well as others with a focus on social aspects of information technology and on work and organizational studies.
| ISBN: | 9781032509129 |
| Publication date: | 23rd September 2025 |
| Author: | Jens Kjaerulff |
| Publisher: | Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 194 pages |
| Series: | Routledge Studies in Anthropology |
| Genres: |
Social and cultural anthropology Sociology: work and labour Communication studies Organizational theory and behaviour Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects Digital and information technologies: Legal aspects Internet guides and online services Computer science |
This book explores the significance of new information technology for socio-cultural change and provides ethnographic insight into the early days of remote working. It draws on long-term anthropological fieldwork among people in rural Denmark working from home via the internet. Going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, the study demonstrates how remote and flexible working was mostly practiced informally, fostering incremental changes to the cultural domain of 'work'. It captures the dilemmas arising from living with multiple arenas and the challenges of balancing work and family life - a predicament which motivates many to embrace remote working. The volume contains an updated introduction and conclusion where the author reflects on the historical moment of his fieldwork and on the impact of the recent Covid-19 pandemic on working practices. The book offers a valuable comment on how to empirically study the social and cultural significance of new information technologies, as well as how to think of and empirically research change anthropologically, situating information technology in a broader offline context of unfolding complex living. It will be of interest to scholars of social anthropology and digital ethnography, as well as others with a focus on social aspects of information technology and on work and organizational studies.
Change and the Internet features in the following genres: Social and cultural anthropology, Sociology: work and labour, Communication studies, Organizational theory and behaviour, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects, Digital and information technologies: Legal aspects, Internet guides and online services, Computer science
Change and the Internet is available in Hardback
Change and the Internet was written by Jens Kjaerulff and published by Routledge an imprint of Taylor & Francis
Change and the Internet has 194 pages
Yes it is part of Routledge Studies in Anthropology series
£139.50