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Introduction

  • Jannick Schou
  • Morten Hjelholt
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Abstract

This introductory chapter sets up this book’s research questions, outlines its academic contributions, and lays out the main methodological and theoretical coordinates engaged with in this study. The chapter starts out by arguing for research that goes beyond the current narratives of digitalization promoted by policymakers and economic elites. Instead there is a need for critical interventions that are capable of unpacking governmental digitalization with a focus on both culture and political economy. The chapter situates such an approach, drawing particularly on recent advances within heterodox political economy, against the current academic landscape, arguing that all too often the political dimensions of digitalization have been neglected by research. It then proceeds to introduce the main empirical and methodological concerns of this book before outlining the plan for the rest of the study.

Keywords

Digitalization Cultural political economy Critical sociology Policy study Governance 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jannick Schou
    • 1
  • Morten Hjelholt
    • 1
  1. 1.IT University of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark

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