The sociology of education and digital technology: Past, present and future

Abstract

During the past 15 years of his career, John Furlong’s research and writing has focused—in part —on digital technologies and people’s everyday experiences of education. While hardly a technol-ogy expert, his work has shown an acute awareness of the significance of computers, the internet and mobile telephony in making sociological sense of education. This paper contrasts the limited visibility of such issues within the sociology of education over the past 30 years with how the present situation appears to be improving during the 2010s.