SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Abstract
Digital technologies have profoundly reshaped contemporary social life, altering patterns of interaction, identity formation, and cultural transmission across societies. From an anthropological perspective, these transformations cannot be understood solely through technical or economic explanations, but require attention to meaning, practice, and power embedded in everyday digital engagement. This study aims to analyze social transformation in the digital age by examining how technology functions as a culturally embedded social environment that mediates relationships, values, and symbolic expression. The research employs a qualitative design grounded in interpretive anthropology, combining digital ethnography, semi structured interviews, and analysis of online cultural artifacts to capture lived experiences within hybrid online offline spaces. The findings reveal that digital platforms reconfigure social organization, redistribute cultural authority, and intensify reflexive identity practices while simultaneously sustaining elements of cultural continuity. Digital interaction emerges as a site of negotiation where tradition and innovation intersect rather than as a force of unilateral disruption. The study concludes that social transformation in the digital age is best understood as a dynamic and context dependent process shaped by human agency and cultural interpretation. These results highlight the continued relevance of anthropological approaches for interpreting technological change and offer insights for research on digital society.
Full text article
References
Al Mawadieh, R. S. M., Razzak, L. F. A., & Al-Badawi, M. (2026). Education in the Digital Age: Anthropological Perspectives on Social Structures and Learning in Virtual Spaces. In A. Sarea, A. Echchabi, M. A. Salami, & A. Mahmood (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Innovation Management and Risk Management (Vol. 227, pp. 2227–2238). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-95310-1_161
Andrés, G. (2025). Fundamentos de la mediatización socio-técnica. Un abordaje no-antropocéntrico de la innovación tecnológica. Austral Comunicación, 14(03). https://doi.org/10.26422/aucom.2025.1403.and
Bao, Z., Li, S., Chen, Y., Xie, H., Long, W., & Chen, W. (2025). Applications of geospatial technologies for construction and demolition waste management: A systematic literature review. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 29(1), 279–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13606
Bell, M. (2025). 1900-1930: The Context of English Literature (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003642060
Bhattacharya, S. (2026). Brainmaker: Co-evolution of Human and Synthetic Intelligence. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111439198
Black, S. P. (2025). Introduction. In S. P. Black, Global Health in the Global North (1st ed., pp. 1–27). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003561019-1
Calzolari, F., & Phantanaboon, W. (2025). Homo Machina: Italian Perspectives on Drone Warfare within International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law. Sriwijaya Law Review, 22–48. https://doi.org/10.28946/slrev.Vol9.Iss1.3199.pp22-48
Colomés, D., & Valera, L. (2025). Examining the Anthropological–Philosophical Implicit Content in Carl Menger’s Value Theory Through Three Philosophers. Philosophies, 10(5), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies10050109
Correction. (2025). Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1–1. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2025.2574121
Dahlig, P. (2025). Portret osobisty w kulturze wspólnotowej. G?os etnomuzykologa. ?ódzkie Studia Etnograficzne, 64, 29–46. https://doi.org/10.12775/LSE.2025.64.02
Dellafiore, F., Saba, A., Collaro, C., & Artioli, G. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Research: Insights From Experts via Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 10497323251389800. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323251389800
Formichella, G., Cecconi, N., Farese, M., Moricca, C., Vignola, C., Di Fonso, E., Rossi, P. F., Manzi, G., & Micarelli, I. (2026). Bioarchaeological dataset: Environment and humans in the Ancient Latium. Data in Brief, 64, 112275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2025.112275
García-Pavón, R., & Dobre, C. E. (2025). Assertiveness as the Ethical Act of Being a Singular Person: Choosing Oneself and Affrontement (Front-Facing) for Loving Communication. In C. Atristain-Suárez & S. Castaños-Cervantes (Eds.), Assertiveness in the Workplace (1st ed., pp. 65–78). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83662-214-720251012
Gibson, L. (2025). How and what we observe. In L. Gibson & J. Sauma, The Ethics of Participation in Environmental Field Research (1st ed., pp. 15–44). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003321804-3
Giling, R., Heerings, M., & Bovenkamp, H. M. V. D. (2025). Art of conveying an experience: A visual anthropological approach to understand how film can convey patient experience. Medical Humanities, medhum-2025-013555. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013555
Ienna, G. (2025). Genesis and Development of French Historical Epistemology: A Trajectory Toward Political Epistemology (Vol. 64). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-88699-7
Irons, R., Gibbon, S., Cook, J., & Parkhurst, A. (Eds.). (2026). An Anthropology of Global Immunization (1st ed.). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781836953203
Ismayanti, S., Jatisunda, M. G., & Hoon, T. S. (2025). Didactic transposition of trigonometric ratios: A comparative study of school and university textbooks. Journal on Mathematics Education, 16(4), 1283–1312. https://doi.org/10.22342/jme.v16i4.pp1283-1312
Laura Palazzani. (2025). Introduzione. Rivista di filosofia del diritto, (1), 7–8. https://doi.org/10.4477/117259
Lyså, I. M., & Faye, R. (2025). Exploring opportunities and pitfalls of nurturing empathy through Virtual Reality in higher education in Norway. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE), 9(1). https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.5978
Mishatina, N. L. (2025). In search of integrity, or How to maintain spiritual dominants in language education. Russian Language at School, 86(5), 7–18. https://doi.org/10.30515/0131-6141-2025-86-5-7-18
Murshed, A. A. (2026). Leveraging Technology to Enhance Educational Methods: Anthropological Perspectives. In N. Al-Ramahi, A. M. A. Musleh Al-Sartawi, & M. Kanan (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Era (Vol. 594, pp. 447–457). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-89771-9_31
Murshed, A. A., Alrahamneh, A., Alhalalmeh, A.-H., & Al-Badawi, M. (2025). Digital Divide and Social Inequality: An Anthropological Perspective on Technology Access. In A. M. A. Musleh Al-Sartawi, A. I. Nour, & I. Abdeljawad (Eds.), Business Resilience and Business Innovation for Sustainability (Vol. 587, pp. 2679–2687). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-87584-7_196
Ontiveros, Y. O., González, J. R., & Palencia, J. L. D. (2025). Integrating creative thinking and cultural insights through the anthropological theory of didactics in university algebra. Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn), 19(2), 742–750. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v19i2.21461
Perkins, J. E., Hovda, K. E., Chowdhury, F. R., Sørensen, J. B., Eddleston, M., & Street, A. (2025). Alcohol as poison: A narrative review of social science scholarship relevant to methanol poisoning in low- and middle-income countries. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 60(3), agaf018. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agaf018
Pilotto, & Riccio. (2025). Introduction. Moving images across borders: Technology, visuality and (im)mobility in anthropological inquiry. Visual Ethnography, 7. https://doi.org/10.12835/ve2024.2-171
Revsbech, C. (2025). From Takers to Givers. In B. Ribers & N. Warring, Professional Ethics in Welfare Work and Education (1st ed., pp. 50–65). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003429692-5
Riccio, T. P. (2025). “Hello, World!” AI as Emergent and Transcendent Life. Religions, 16(4), 442. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16040442
Rossi, M. (2025). Contemporary Views on Color: Research and Applications between Science, Culture and Design. Cultura e Scienza Del Colore - Color Culture and Science, 17(01), 92–97. https://doi.org/10.23738/CCSJ.170108
Schneider, B., & Oliveira, M. (2025). Developing Critical AI Language Literacy—Prompting experiments on raciolinguistic bias to understand large language models as cultural artefacts. AI & SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02727-7
Soren, S., & Kipgen, M. (2025). Illustrating the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Santhals and Kuki: Pushing the Boundaries of Knowledge Sharing in the Era of Technology. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLVIII-M-9–2025, 1413–1419. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-9-2025-1413-2025
Tirinzoni, M. (2025). Metaverse, implemented. A philosophical perspective on agenda-setting ethical tools for the development of immersive technologies. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 6, 1503015. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2025.1503015
Török, B., & Darabos, Á. (2025). Aligned in Human Dignity? Parallel Anthropological Aspects of EU Tech Regulation and Pope Francis’ Teaching on AI. Religions, 16(3), 312. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16030312
Zhang, Xuan, Yu, J., & Liu, W. (2025). Exploring the vitality and cultural value of rivers: An interdisciplinary approach to theory and practice. In M. Aghaei & Xiaoshuan Zhang (Eds.), Sixth International Conference on Green Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development (GEESD 2025) (p. 151). SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3084016
Authors
Copyright (c) 2026 Indra Tjahyadi, Carlos Fernandez , Isabel Martinez, Emmy Solina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
