Culture, Society and the Digital Economy

2025-03-31

Dr. Ángel Bartolomé Luna, CEU San Pablo University
Dra. Sonia Martín Gómez, CEU San Pablo University

Introduction

We live in an age where digital technology not only transforms industries but also reshapes how we see, narrate and inhabit the world. Culture, society and the economy have undergone a process of digitalisation that affects everything from everyday communicative practices to the collective representation of identities, knowledge and traditions. Digital life is not confined to a technical or instrumental layer; it permeates the symbolic, emotional, political and economic realms, generating new forms of relationships, consumption and meaning-making.

Screens, algorithms and social networks have become key mediators of contemporary experience. Museums, brands, activist collectives, media outlets and citizens operate in environments where the circulation of images, narratives and data shape perceptions, decisions and social bonds. Within this ecosystem, attention economies, “like” dynamics, accelerated visuality and constant interactivity are transforming not only markets but also the construction of subjectivities and collective memory.

This special issue aims to provide a space for academic and critical reflection on the effects and implications of this transformation. How are museums and cultural institutions changing their ways of communicating and educating in a connected society? In what ways do social networks influence brand strategies, social inclusion or the perception of sustainability? What role do emerging phenomena such as deepfakes, disinformation or algorithmic metrics play in the construction of truth, authority and trust within digital environments? How are copyright, privacy and cultural heritage negotiated today in a context dominated by platforms and data?

The intersection between culture, society and the digital economy opens up a wide range of perspectives that bring together visual studies, communication, marketing, sociology, economics, political philosophy and digital anthropology. Technology is no longer a mere medium: it is a narrative structure, a site of symbolic dispute, and a space for practices of resistance or hegemony.

This special issue seeks to gather contributions that analyse how technological devices, digital platforms and algorithmic logics are influencing symbolic representation, value production and contemporary social dynamics. We are particularly interested in exploring how new visualities, cultural consumption patterns and narratives of the future are being shaped within a highly mediatised economy.

We invite researchers to submit theoretical, empirical or methodological studies that help map the present of digital culture, symbolic economies and socio-technical communication processes in the algorithmic age. This special issue aspires to contribute to the international debate on the role of digital culture as a driver, symptom and mirror of social change in the 21st century.

Thematic Areas

  1. Digital transformation of cultural spaces: museums, exhibitions, digital archives and cultural communication strategies.
  2. Visual narratives and identity representation: inclusion, exclusion and re-signification of communities in digital environments.
  3. Branding and corporate communication strategies on digital platforms: visual identity, sustainability, the silver economy and storytelling on social media.
  4. Digital economy and consumer culture: new advertising formats, real-time marketing and data-driven user experiences.
  5. Activism, culture and social networks: campaigns, social narratives and dynamics of citizen participation.
  6. Disinformation, trust and emerging technologies: the impact of deepfakes, memes, bots and algorithms on public perception.
  7. Ethics and rights in the digital economy: intellectual property, privacy and regulatory tensions.
  8. Visual culture and digital metrics analysis: data visualisation, algorithmic visualities and impact measurement on social networks.
  9. Digital culture and senior audiences: representation, cultural consumption and inclusion in the digital sphere.
  10. Tensions between globalisation and digital localism: case studies analysing cultural tensions in the connected economy.

Keywords

  • Digital culture
  • Visual communication
  • Symbolic economy
  • Identity and representation
  • Disinformation and deepfakes
  • Marketing and sustainability

Submission deadline: 01/07/2025
Accepted languages: Spanish and English