Digital Transformations: Social and Ethical Consequences of Rapid Technological Change

This timely book explores how digital transformations are rapidly reshaping modern societies, including public service, business, educational, health and welfare systems. Leading experts in the field investigate the ways in which digital technologies increase both the demand for and promise of new solutions to crucial societal, economic and ecological challenges.

The book presents an international comparison of drivers, trajectories and impediments to digital transformations across social science disciplines. Chapters assess the social consequences of ubiquitous and increasingly independent digital technologies, including how advancements in AI raise new questions about truth and ownership of created content, as well as growing concerns surrounding discrimination, privacy violations and job displacement. Contributors challenge the notion that digital transformations are solely an external force driven by ed-tech providers imposing new developments on society and the political system, focusing instead on the iterative interplay between technology and societal and political actors.

Digital Transformations is a valuable resource for scholars and students across the social sciences, particularly those interested in the impacts of innovations and technology on politics and public policy and the Sustainable Development Goals.