Book Review: Hyperconnectivity and Its Discontents
by Jacob Pleasants
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Hyperconnectivity and its Discontents, Polity Books, 2022
Rogers Brubaker, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at UCLA, is not a scholar who I associate with technology criticism. I was somewhat surprised, then, to see that he had written a book about digital technology. To be sure, Sociology offers many disciplinary tools that are quite useful for understanding the intersections of technology and society. And so, what perspectives does Brubaker bring to this space?
In its preface, Brubaker explains that Hyperconnectivity and its Discontents emerged from a seminar that he taught about digital mediation. He found himself in need of a book that would address “both everyday experience and underlying structural transformations in a manner at once challenging and accessible” (p. vi). Thus, he decided to write it. I therefore think of Hyperconnectivity and its Discontents as a pedagogical text. Brubaker is overt that the book is not meant to advance new theory about digital technology, but rather to bring together and organize many disparate strands into cogent and coherent themes.
If there is a distinctive theoretical contribution, it is Brubaker’s description of “hyperconnectivity” as a “total social fact” that permeates and shapes all aspects of our social reality. While he does not offer a precise definition of hyperconnectivity, it is a recent development that he associates with the sheer scale and reach of the current form of digital connections (human-human, human-machine, and machine-machine). This is not a deterministic force on society, but
“…an environment – or more precisely, a complex environment of environments – in which certain actions become easier (or are made possible or even thinkable in the first place), while other actions become more difficult.” (p. 128)
He thinks of hyperconnectivity, then, as a technological milieu that mediates nearly every aspect of our lives.
The notion of “hyperconnectivity” is a useful one, but Brubaker is not out to defend a thesis about it as a historical or sociological construct. Instead, the purpose of the book is to explore the effects of this new phenomenon on a range of significant domains: selves, interactions, culture, economy, and politics – each of which occupies a chapter. When it comes to hyperconnectivity’s consequences for these domains, counts himself among the “discontents.” He identifies his own stance as “critical and pessimistic” (p. 169), but at the same time he works to “remain sensitive throughout to the ambivalence of hyperconnectivity” (p. 169). On the subject of our interactions, for instance, he points out that hyperconnectivity
“…provides new possibilities for sustaining friendships, families, and love relationships at a distance, and it has enriched communicative repertoires and engendered new modalities of communication.” (p. 169)
Along those lines, each chapter begins with a discussion of those possibilities. But the bulk of the analysis is on identifying the current and potential harms, as well as the ways that the promises of hyperconnectivity have been undermined.
So, does the book succeed in its project of offering a “challenging and accessible” introduction to the ways that hyperconnectivity has transformed the domains of self, interaction, culture, economy, and politics? For those who spend a lot of time in the technology criticism space (such as myself), the major arguments and ideas that Brubaker discusses will be largely familiar. I found this especially to be true for the chapters on economy and politics, which recount contemporary arguments regarding, among others: the consequences of the advertising business model, the degradation of (gig) work, the perilous state of (mis)information, and new forms of governmental control. Even though those chapters cover familiar territory, Brubaker’s analyses and summaries of the issues are thorough and lucid – helpful for any newcomer to the field.
The earlier chapters on the self, interactions, and culture also cover familiar ground, but I also found several new and interesting perspectives. The scholarship that he brings together provide insights and raise questions that one is less likely to encounter in mainstream discourse. Brubaker does not limit himself to the most heavily discussed issues of digital communication, such as its impacts on mental health. Instead, he raises more profound and foundational questions about what it means to construct a “self” in a hyperconnected environment, the qualities of a life dominated by “micro” interactions, and questions about the (de)commodification of cultural objects. These issues relate to the everyday fabric of our lives, and his discussions help readers to look at themselves and their communities in new and fruitful ways.
As a pedagogical text, how might this book land with a reader who is new to the space of technology criticism? Its origins indicate that Brubaker wrote the book with his undergraduate seminar students in mind. For such a reader, this book is certain to challenge their thinking across all the domains it considers. The specific technologies under examination are familiar and accessible, which is assistive to a newcomer. The density of the concepts and analyses in this book is substantial, which could be daunting. In this respect, I could see it serving quite well as the main text for a seminar course – frequent class meetings would be essential for helping students digest and make sense of its arguments. I could also see a single chapter being used in a course, as each chapter can easily stand on its own.
As a pedagogical resource, then, Hyperconnectivity and its Discontents has much to offer. And as a scholarly resource, there is much here as well. There is a veritable gold mine of notes and references, and I added more to my reading list because of this book than most of what I have read lately. Technology criticism might not be Brubaker’s home turf, but he certainly did the research, and has brought to us a valuable and worthwhile text.