3: The Generative Contours of the Interaction Order in the Digital Age

In this chapter, we will seek to advance and explore how certain strands of interactionist thinking, inclusive of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, can be leveraged as conceptual and methodological resources for approaching digital societies in relation to automation, ‘the self’, networked everyday life and the emerging contours of interaction order in the 21st century. The subsequent chapters will aim to identify, explore and discuss key transformations, inclusive of generative Artificial Intelligence, voice agents and automated ‘personas’ within platform society and culture(s) and critically connect with emerging studies and the socio-technical imaginaries (Jasanoff, 2016) that surround the routine engagement with increasingly ‘digitally automated’ and ‘augmented’ aspects of social life and interaction across key social domains.