Ángel Gordo López is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology: Methodology and Theory, at the Complutense University of Madrid (2002-present). Doctor in Psychology from the University of Manchester, he was a Lecturer at the University of Bradford (1994-1999) and Research Fellow in the Discourse Unit (1995-1997), a collaborative Centre which support a variety of qualitative and theoretical research projects based in Manchester (now at the University of Manchester). He has been visiting professor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Universidad Central de Caracas, in Western Nepean University (Sydney), the Free University of Berlin and more recently in la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín.
He is the founder of the research group Cultura Digital y Movimientos Sociales. Cibersomosaguas (2002-presente) and since 2011 he is Managing Editor of Teknokultura. Revista de Cultura Digital y Movimientos Sociales an officially registered journal of Complutense University that addresses the growing prominence of technology, attending to the complex ways in which technology and new social media restructure social, economic, political and cultural life. Teknokultura is indexed on the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and Journal Citation Reports [Journal Citation Indicator]. In the Spanish-speaking world, Teknokultura is among the most important scientific journals in the field of Social Science, Sociology and Communication.
Collaborative research experience
Ángel Gordo’s background is in social psychology, philosophy, sociology and cultural studies, and a strong emphasis on advanced qualitative methodologies and research strategies allows him to combine academic rigor and methodological innovation to translate social rights and values into assessment and analysis of everyday technological issues and social relations. He has advised public and not-for profit organizations including the National Traffic Authority in Spain [Dirección General de Tráfico] and Spanish Railway Company (RENFE). The “Exploratory Study of consumer issues in peer-to-peer platform markets” study for the European Commission adopted the economic, social and environmental impact indicators his research group developed for European Organisations of Consumers and Users (OCU), and was published as “Collaboration or Business: From value for users to a society with values” (OCU, 2016). He continues to research information technology and social change (especially digital surveillance and peace making) and related social and political issues (such as Qanon) with Prof. Chris H. Gray (University of California at Santa Cruz),
Current research interests
Ángel Gordo is currently researching online misogyny, focusing on the values and practices inscribed in new media networks and the design of digital environments (‘technosexual affordances’). In this research he draws on critical discourse analysis (specifically materialist and dialogical approaches), forensic linguistics and new developments in Cybersecurity research. He is also coordinating, in collaboration with Confucius Institute of Madrid and Shanghai International Studies University, a special issue of Teknokultura on social studies of information and communication technology and new media in China, which addresses controversial topics that include computational propaganda, fake news and disinformation, and China’s international communication with intelligence agencies, the ‘metaverse’ societal developments. His current work, as an extension of previous research on the social and environmental impact of the ‘sharing economy’, is also concerned with post-growth and degrowth economic alternatives for a sustainable future.
Academic Writing
His academic work has been published in the fields of Social Psychology, Sociology, Communication, Science and Public Policy, Ethics and Information Technology, Environmental Studies, Sharing Economy, and in leading academic publishers such as Routledge/Taylor and Francis, Springer, Sage, Macmillan, Pearson and Free Association Books. We list below a selection of his publications:
Articles (Selection)
de Rivera, J. Gordo, A., Cassidy, P. and Apesteguía, A. (2017). A netnographic study of P2P collaborative consumption platforms’ user interface and design. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 23: 11 – 27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2016.09.003 [Q1/ WOS(JCR): Social Sciences Edition – Environmental Studies].
Gordo, A., Parra, P. and Cassidy, P. (2015). The [not so] new digital family: disciplinary functions of representations of children and technology. Feminism and Psychology, 24(3): 326 – 346, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353514562805 [Q1/ WOS(JCR): Social Sciences Edition – Women’s Studies]
Rubio, M. y Gordo, A. (2021). La perspectiva tecnosocial feminista como antídoto para la misoginia online. Revista Española de Sociología, 30(3), a64. https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2021.64ç [Q2/SJR, de Social Sciences Edition- Education & Educational Research].
de Rivera, J., Gordo, A., García-Arnau, A. y Díaz-Catalán, C. (2021). Los factores estructurales e intervinientes de la socialización digital juvenil. Una aproximación mediante el método Delphi. Revista Complutense de Educación, 32(3), 415-426. https://doi.org/10.5209/rced.70389 [Q2/SJR Social Sciences/Educación].
Gordo, A., de Rivera, J. and Cassidy, P. (2021). The measurement of the economic, social and environmental impact of Peer to Peer online platforms: The case of collaborative consumption. Empiria: Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, (49), 87-119. https://doi.org/10.5944/empiria.49.2021.29233 [Q2/SJR, Social Sciences (miscelanea)]
Sastre, P. y Gordo, A. (2019) Activism versus algorithmic control. New governance models, old asymmetries, IC: Revista Científica de Información y Comunicación, 16: 183-208. https://dx.doi.org/10.12795/IC.2019.i16.04 [Q3/SJR, Cultural Studies].
Gray, C.H. and Gordo, A. (2014). Social Media in Conflict: Comparing military and social movement technocultures. Cultural Politics, 10: 251 – 261, https://dx.doi.org/10.1215/17432197-2795645 [Q2/SJR, Cultural Studies].
Parra, P., Gordo, A. and D’Antonio, S. (2014). Social research applied to social networks. A methodological innovation for the analysis of Facebook Likes. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 69: 195 - 212. https://dx.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2014-1008 [Q2/SJR, Communication]
Gordo, A. and Burman, E. (2004). Emotional capital and information technologies in the changing rethorics around children and childhood. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 105: 63 - 80. https://doi.org/10.1002/cd.111 [Q3/SJR, Education and Developmental Psychology].
Books (selection)
Gordo, A., García, A., de Rivera, J. & Díaz-Catalán, C. (2018). Jóvenes en la encrucijada digital. Itinerarios de socialización y desigualdades en los entornos digitales. Centro Reina Sofía FAD - Ediciones Morata.
Gordo, A. and Sádaba, I. (Eds.) (2008). Cultura digital y movimientos sociales. Catarata.
Gordo, A. and Serrano, A. (Eds.) (2008). Estrategias y prácticas cualitativa de investigación social. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008.
Gordo, A. and Megías, I. (2006). Jóvenes y cultura messenger. Tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en la sociedad interactiva. FAD/INJUVE.
Cleminson, R. and Gordo, A. (2004). Technosexual landscapes: changing relations between technology and sexuality. Free Association Books.
Gordo, A. and Parker, I. (Eds.) (1999). Cyberpsychology. Macmillan.
Chapters (selection)
Gordo, Á. (2020). Social Challenges: The Serious Game of Digitalization. In C. H. Gray, S. Mentor y H. Figueroa Sarriera (Eds). Modified. Living as Cyborgs. Routledge, 263-270.
Gordo, A. Gray, C.H. (2021). El cambiante gobierno digital. La adaptación política de la virtualidad interactiva en clave Qanon. In J. Candón-Mena y D. Montero Sánchez (Eds.) Del ciberactivismo a la tecnopolítica. Movimientos sociales en la era del escepticismo tecnológico. Comunicación Social, 95-114.
García, A. Gordo, A. and Gray, C.H. (2019). Filias, fobias y desigualdades digitales: los/as jóvenes ante la ciencia y la tecnología. Percepción social de la Ciencia y la Tecnología FECYT, 165–187.
Gordo, A., de Rivera, J and Cassidy, P. (2017) La economía colaborativa y sus impactos sociales en la era del capitalismo digital, en R. Cotarelo y J. Gil de Andrés (Eds.) Ciberpolítica. Hacia la cosmopolis de la información y la comunicación. Instituto Nacional de las Administraciones Publicas, 342-361.