The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age

370 Pages·2016·4.617 MB·English

by  Sonia Livingstone, Julian Sefton-Green

The Class
CONNECTED YOUTH AND DIGITAL FUTURES
Th is series explores young people’s day-t o- day lives and futures. Th e
volumes consider changes at the intersection of civil and political re-
form, transformations in employment and education, and the growing
presence of digital technologies in all aspects of social, cultural, and po-
litical life. Th e John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Digi-
tal Media and Learning (DML) Initiative has supported two research
networks that have helped launch this series: the Youth and Participa-
tory Politics Research Network and the Connected Learning Research
Network. Th e DML Initiative and the DML Hub at the University of Cali-
fornia, Irvine, also support production and open access for this series.
connectedyouth.nyupress.org
By Any Media Necessary: Th e New Youth Activism
Henry Jenkins, Sangita Shresthova, Liana Gamber- Th ompson,
Neta Kligler- Vilenchik, and Arely Zimmerman
Th e Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age
Sonia Livingstone and Julian Seft on- Green
The Class
Living and Learning in the Digital Age
Sonia Livingstone and Julian Sefton-G reen
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2016 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
ISBN: 978-1-4798-8457-5 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-1-4798-2424-3 (paperback)
For Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data, please contact the Library of Congress.
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers
and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: An Invitation to Meet the Class 1
1 Living and Learning in the Digital Age 20
2 A Year of Fieldwork 41
3 Networks and Social Worlds 61
4 Identities and Relationships 85
5 Life at School: From Routines to Civility 107
6 Learning at School: Measuring and “Leveling” the Self 127
7 Life at Home Together and Apart 148
8 Making Space for Learning in the Home 168
9 Learning to Play Music: Class, Culture, and Taste 190
10 Life Trajectories, Social Mobility, and Cultural Capital 212
Conclusion: Conservative, Competitive, or Connected 233
Appendix 255
Notes 269
References 315
Index 339
About the Authors 357
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Figures and Tables
Figures
Figure 3.1. Th e class as a social network 64
Figure 3.2. Mark’s ego network 75
Figure 3.3. Scatterplot of in- school and out- of- school
contacts in class members’ ego networks 78
Figure 4.1. Gideon’s ego network 88
Figure 4.2. Megan’s ego network 91
Figure 4.3. Dilruba’s ego network 96
Figure 8.1. Yusuf’s “study” 171
Figure 8.2. Adam’s bedroom, showing places for work
and play 174
Figure 8.3. Photographs of Sara’s Play- Doh creations
uploaded to her Facebook profi le 177
Figure A.1. Members of the class classifi ed by their parents’
cultural and economic capital 259
Tables
Table 7.1. Media use by members of the class 157
Table 9.1. Private music lessons taken by members of
the class 192
Table A.1. Research design overview 264
vii
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Acknowledgments
We fi rst acknowledge the generosity and openness of the class of 13-year-
olds and their families who let us into their lives during 2011– 2012; this
book may not make them famous, but we hope they like it should they
choose to read it. We also warmly thank the school and the teachers who
accommodated our research so helpfully, despite not knowing what we
might say about them. We wish we could thank them by name, but we
cannot as the school and the class could then be identifi ed.
We also want to thank the many colleagues who have read draft s, de-
bated ideas, and had their brains picked over the past few years. Th ese
include Hans- Christian Arnseth, Shakuntala Banaji, Alicia Blum- Ross,
Georgina Born, David Buckingham, Lynn Schofi eld Clark, John Coleman,
Ola Erstad, Pete Fraser, Oystein Gilje, Jenny Grahame, Glynda Hull, Henry
Jenkins, Ken Jones, Koen Leurs, Andres Lombana- Bermudez, Danny
Miller, Helen Nixon, Ricarose Roque, Stuart Poyntz, Jennifer Rowsell,
Michael Simmons, Joseph Tobin, and many others— including the anony-
mous reviewers for New York University Press.
Th e project was conceived and nurtured as part of the Connected
Learning Research Network, led by Mizuko Ito; we have benefi ted
greatly from collaborating with Dalton Conley, Kris Gutiérrez, Heather
Horst, Ben Kirschner, Mizuko Ito, Vera Michalchik, Bill Penuel, Kylie
Peppler, Jean Rhodes, Katie Salen, Juliet Schor, S. Craig Watkins, and
Amanda Wortman and with Connie Yowell from the MacArthur
Foundation.
As we conducted the fi eldwork, we made many calls— variously in-
teresting or tedious— on our able research assistants Adnan Muhammad,
Svenja Ottovordemgentschenfelde, Yinhan Wang, and Rafal Zaborowski;
we thank them too, as well as Dawn Rushden, who edited the fi nal
manuscript for us.
Sonia was fortunate to spend several months with the Social Media
Collective at Microsoft ’s New England Research and Development Cen-
ter, where she discussed Th e Class with Nancy Baym, Kate Crawford,
ix