BA (Hons) Sociology
An exciting subject – sociology challenges the world in which we live, including politics, media and social inequality. Get practical experience to work in education, PR, charity or government.
Dr Garfield Benjamin
Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Architecture and Engineering
Biography
Garfield is a lecturer in sociology, teaching issues of data, technology, media, power, identity and society. Before that, they were a postdoctoral researcher. Prior to joining Solent, Garfield worked at the Birmingham Centre for Cyber Security and Privacy, after completing a PhD in Digital Technology Theory and Practice at the University of Wolverhampton.
Research interests
Garfield’s research focuses on societal issues with technology. They are particularly interested in how our identities are constructed with and through technologies, as well as the many forms of inequalities that are produced through the inequitable ways technology is used in society. Their recent work has built on queer and intersectional critiques to examine the social narratives that surround social media platforms, AI, data, privacy and algorithms, as well as mapping power structures of sociotechnical assemblages. Garfield is particularly interested in tech policy and regulation and engages with external networks and policy calls for submissions around issues of privacy and algorithms, for example, the use of facial recognition (evidence cited by the Scottish Parliament Justice Sub-Committee on Policing). They regularly provide comment for the press on issues of technology that affect people’s everyday lives.
ORCID ID
Keywords
Technology, privacy, algorithms, platforms, social media, performativity, social narratives
Further information
PI, ‘Privacy I/O’ – Solent University (Research England)
PI, ‘The Speculative City’ – Solent University (RIKE)
Co-I, ‘Return to Sender’ – Europeana
