Editing Organizing and Governance in Online Communities (UW COM597 Winter 2025) (section)

=== Friday January 17: Introduction: Agency, Structure, and Governance ===

;Assignments:
* Complete and post your response to reading [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1808091/discussion_topics in the appropriate discussion forum] by 11:59pm on Thursday (see [[#Weekly Response Papers]])
* In [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1808091/discussion_topics the appropriate forum], ''briefly'' respond to at least two of your classmates and make sure to nominate at least two of their questions for group discussion by 12:00p (noon) on Friday (see [[#Weekly Response Papers]])

;Required readings:

The [[:wikipedia:structure and agency|argument over the primacy of agency and structure in shaping society]] is probably the most important animating debate in both the classical and contemporary social sciences and has important connections to thinking about governance. We'll read classic texts from both perspectives as well a series of more recent texts that have extended these ideas into thinking about governance in online communities.

Here are two pieces about rational choice (a position strongly associated with a focus on individual agency):

* Simon, Herbert A. 1955. “A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice.” ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics' 69 (1): 99–118. https://doi.org/10.2307/1884852. {{Avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.2307/1884852}}
* Champion, Kaylea. 2020. “Characterizing Online Vandalism: A Rational Choice Perspective.” In ''International Conference on Social Media and Society (SMSociety’20)'', 47–57. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400813. {{avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400813}}

Here is a set of pieces about social structure, authority, and governance (especially bureaucracy):

* Weber, Max. 2019. ''Economy and Society: A New Translation''. Translated by Keith Tribe. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. [Ch. 1, Pt. II: "The Concept of Social Action" (pgs. 99-138); Ch. 3: "Types of Rule", Pt. 1-4 9 (pgs. 338-378)] {{avail-canvas|1=https://canvas.uw.edu/files/129316420/download?download_frd=1}}
* Kreiss, Daniel, Megan Finn, and Fred Turner. 2011. “The Limits of Peer Production: Some Reminders from Max Weber for the Network Society.” ''New Media & Society'' 13 (2): 243–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810370951. {{Avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810370951}}
* O’Neil, Mathieu. 2014. “Hacking Weber: Legitimacy, Critique, and Trust in Peer Production.” ''Information, Communication & Society'' 17 (7): 872–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.850525. {{avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.850525}} 
* Schneider, Nathan. 2022. “Admins, Mods, and Benevolent Dictators for Life: The Implicit Feudalism of Online Communities.” New Media & Society 24 (9): 1965–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820986553. {{avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820986553}}

;Optional readings:
* Weber, Max. 2019. ''Economy and Society: A New Translation''. Translated by Keith Tribe. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. [The remainder of Chas. 1 and 3 plus very short "Overviews" notes to the chapters (pgs. 74-138, 335-449)] {{avail-canvas|1=https://canvas.uw.edu/files/129206284/download?download_frd=1}}
* Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1959. “Bureaucratic and Craft Administration of Production: A Comparative Study.” ''Administrative Science Quarterly'' 4 (2): 168–87. https://doi.org/10.2307/2390676. {{avail-uw|https://doi.org/10.2307/2390676}}
* Weber, Max. 1978. “Chapter IX: Bureaucracy.” In ''Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology'', edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, 956–1005. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. {{avail-canvas|1=https://canvas.uw.edu/files/129206133/download?download_frd=1}}