Dr. Felicia Song

FELICIA SONG TO JOIN WESTMONT FACULTY THIS SUMMER

Although she was officially hired last year, Felicia Song delayed her arrival and will be joining the Sociology and Anthropology Department this summer, assuming the role as chair. Currently finishing her service on the faculty of Louisiana State University, she has actually been quite active this year collaborating with our department on its planning and searches. We also asked her to share a few thoughts with us about her professional and personal journey.

What encouraged you to pursue a degree in sociology?

Growing up, Christianity was strictly a matter of personal piety. It really wasn’t until after college that I was introduced to the idea that everything in this world was subject to God’s redeeming power and deserving of Christian examination—everything. Since email and the Internet were just starting to grow popular in people’s lives, I became quite interested in how media and technology shape our contemporary experiences of identity, relationship and community. After a short detour in a communication studies program, I ended up pursuing my doctorate in sociology because it was the discipline that offered the kind of theoretical foundations for understanding social and cultural change. I was astonished to discover that the classical theorists Marx, Weber and Durkheim were all preoccupied with significant economic and technological transformations as well, and I continue to enjoy learning from and mulling over the theoretical works of sociologists like Pierre Bourdieu, Eva Illouz, and Anthony Giddens who tell compelling and robust stories about why the world looks the way it does.

What has your particular field of study taught you about yourself and our world?

My research lies at the intersection of the sociology of culture and the sociology of technology. As someone interested in the social and cultural effects of social media and digital technology—for example, how our lives and understandings are shaped by how we use our cellphones or how we use Facebook—I am often struck by how much we let technology mold the rhythms of our lives and the relationships we have, and how little power we feel we have to do otherwise. Studying the place of technology in our lives forces me to see how living in a countercultural way—something as simple as not checking email on the weekends—incurs real costs and sacrifice.

How does your faith inform your academic work (or vice versa)?

My faith informs my perspective on what it means to be a human being, what it means to be in relationship with someone, and what it means to be in community. It therefore compels me to examine how well or how poorly our contemporary lives are structured to support such visions of human flourishing.