Information sociology (Sociology of information)
Information sociology or sociology of information is a bordering field between sociology and Library and Information Science (LIS).
This field cover a range of topics such as "the information society", "the role of libraries and information systems in society", "scientific communication" etc.
In general has social and cultural perspectives been suppressed in LIS and the field have been dominated by technological and psychological perspectives.
Early voices advocating a sociological perspective on LIS were, among others Shera (1970, 1971) and Wersig (1973). Ørom (2000) also mentions Jorge Luis Borges, but although he was a librarian with a social view of libraries, he cannot be said to have contributed to a sociological understanding of LIS as a discipline.
Information
sociology is related to sociology of knowledge (e.g., Berger & Luckmann, 1987)
and to the sociology of science (e.g., Storer, 1966), which among other things
discusses the consequences of the publication explosion for the scientific
institution.
The field may have a latent tendency to "sociologize", to see knowledge as a
pure social construction. Such an idealist tendency is visible already in the
title of Berger & Luckmann (1987).
Literature:
Berger, P. L. & Luckmann, T. (1987). Den samfundsskabte virkelighed. En videnssociologisk afhandling. København: Lindhardt & Ringhof.
McDonough, Jerome P. (2000). The Application of a Feminist Sociology to Information Systems Design. How the design of computer-mediated communications systems affects the flow and the perceived authority of information. The School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS), University of California, Berkeley. (PhD. dissertation).
Shera, J. H. (1970). Sociological Foundations of Librarianship. London: Asia Publ. House.
Shera, J. H. (1971). The sociological relationships of information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 22(2), 76-80.
Swift, D. F., Winn, V. A. & Bramer, D. A.
(1979). A Sociological Approach to the Design of Information Systems. Journal
of the American Society for Information Science,
30, 215-223.
Storer, N. W. (1966). The Social System of Science. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Tengström, E. (1987). Myten om Informationssamhället - ett humanistisk inlägg i
framtidsdebatten. Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren.
Wersig, G. (1973). Informationssoziologie. Hinweise zu einem informationswissenschaftlichen Teilbereich. Frankfurt am Main: Athenäum Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
Ørom, A. (2000). Information science, historical changes and
social aspects: A Nordic outlook. Journal of Documentation, 56(1), 12-26.
See also: Information science, related fields; Social informatics; Sociological-epistemological paradigm
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 19-06-2006