Digital Welfare in Platform Societies: Governance, Participation, and Social Vulnerabilities - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 13: 9798260030486

Publisher: Igi Global Scientific Publishing, 2026

Synopsis

The rapid expansion of digital technologies has fundamentally transformed the ways in which welfare systems are designed, delivered, and experienced across contemporary platform societies. As governments increasingly rely on digital platforms, data infrastructures, and automated decision-making to administer public services, these tools promise greater efficiency, responsiveness, and accessibility for both institutions and citizens. At the same time, digital welfare systems raise pressing concerns about equity, transparency, privacy, and accountability, particularly when vulnerable populations encounter barriers to access or are subject to opaque forms of automated assessment. Questions of governance and participation are therefore central, as meaningful public oversight and citizen engagement are needed to ensure that technological innovation supports rather than undermines social rights. Exploring this topic is essential for identifying practical ways to make digital welfare systems more transparent, inclusive, and accountable while protecting the rights and needs of vulnerable communities. Digital Welfare in Platform Societies: Governance, Participation, and Social Vulnerabilities explores the complex relationships between technology, public administration, social policy, and digital citizenship through a collection of empirical studies, theoretical contributions, and policy-oriented analyses. The chapters investigate how platform-based governance, artificial intelligence, algorithmic decision-making, social media, and digital participation influence access to welfare services, institutional trust, labor market integration, cultural engagement, and social inclusion. Covering topics such as administrative entrapment, guidance systems, and user experience, this book is an excellent resource for scholars, researchers, graduate and post-graduate students, policymakers, public administrators, social service professionals, digital governance specialists, and more.

About this title

About the Author

Gabriella Punziano, PhD in Sociology and Social Research is Associate Professor in Sociology and Methodology, Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples Federico II. Her research interests include: the methodology of social research, the new analytical frontiers and the challenges introduced by new data, mixed and integrated and digital perspectives; social policies and welfare regimes in relation to social inclusion, territorial cohesion and community integration; the analysis of public, institutional and political communication phenomena through innovative content analysis techniques; risk communication analysis on social and digital platforms; socioeconomic effects, individual behavior, risk governance, communication of science, and the role of expertise in the Covid-19 era.

Edition details

• Publisher: Igi Global Scientific Publishing
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798260030486
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 435
• Editor: Punziano Gabriella, Trezza Domenico, De Luca Picione Giuseppe Luca