Cybertheory
Cybertheory is an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for analyzing digital networks, cyberspace, and computer-mediated social systems. It treats information flows, computational infrastructures, and the actors who use and shape them as an integrated system, with attention to power, governance, culture, and ethics. The field aims to explain how technical architectures influence behavior and institutions, while social and political processes, in turn, shape technological development and policy outcomes.
Foundations of cybertheory include cybernetics, information theory, network science, critical theory, and science and technology studies.
Historically, the term emerged as digital networks expanded beyond laboratories and became central to broader debates
Applications of cybertheory include analysis of platform power and data governance, privacy and surveillance, cyber security
Critics argue that cybertheory risks vagueness or disciplinary fragmentation, while supporters contend that a coherent theoretical