Staff Profile
Dr David Hill
Associate Professor of Sociology
I'm a social theorist with a background in philosophy and an interest in researching questions of moral experience as they relate to digital technology, environmental crisis and logistical worlds. I have a BA in Philosophical Studies (Newcastle University), an MA in Philosophy (Durham University) and a PhD in Sociology (University of York). I was a Lecturer in Communication and Culture at the University of Liverpool for five years before joining York St John. I'm mostly interested in the work of Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-Francois Lyotard and Paul Virilio, and would be keen to supervise research students who want to do theoretical work on technology, space and culture.
- School – York Business School
- Email – d.hill@yorksj.ac.uk
- Phone – 01904 876 951
- Research - View my work in RaY
Teaching
I teach on the following undergraduate modules:
- Sociology of Work
- Sociology of the Very Worst
- Technology and Society.
Sociology of Work is a critical and self-reflexive course looking at work as a social institution. Sociology of the Very Worst looks at the social conditions of various traumatic or eruptive events (like extreme weather, nuclear accidents or financial crashes). And Technology and Society explores questions such as:
- Who am I on social media?
- Where does my phone come from?
- How do online orders arrive so quickly?
- And where does all that data go anyway?
Research
Since completing my PhD on moral experience and digital media, most of my work has focused on technology, culture and society. I'm particularly interested in thinking through how technologies alter, obscure or derail our experiences of moral responsibility. I'm also interested in understanding the organisation of digital labour, especially the unheralded parts of it like factory production and logistics provision. Increasingly I'm preoccupied with thinking about ecological issues related to technology production and consumption, and with human and more than human relationships in the Anthropocene.
Publications and Conferences
Books
Hill, D.W. 2022. Moral Gravity: Staying Together at the End of the World. Bristol University Press.
Hill, D.W. 2015. The Pathology of Communicative Capitalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal Articles
Hill, D.W. 2022. The Eroticism of Logistics. Space and Culture, advance online publication.
Hill, D.W. 2022. Love and Narcissism in Reality Television. Sociological Research Online, advance online publication.
Hill, D.W. 2021. Trajectories in Platform Capitalism. Mobilities, 16:4, 569-583.
Sointu, E. & D.W. Hill. 2020. Trump Therapy: Personal Identity, Political Trauma and the Contradictions of Therapeutic Practice. European Journal of Cultural Studies, advance online publication.
Hill, D.W. 2020. The Injuries of Platform Logistics. Media, Culture & Society, 42:4, 521-536.
Hill, D.W. 2020. Communication as a Moral Vocation: Safe Space and Freedom of Speech. The Sociological Review, 68:1, 3-16.
Hill, D.W. 2019. Speed and Pessimism: Moral Experience in the Work of Paul Virilio. Journal for Cultural Research, 23:4, 411-424.
Hill, D.W. 2019. Bearing Witness, Moral Responsibility and Distant Suffering. Theory, Culture & Society, 36:1, 27-45.
Hill, D.W. & D. Martin. 2017. Visibly Mute: Ethical Sociality and the Everyday Exurban. Antipode, 49:2, 416-436.
Hill, D.W. 2015. Class, Trust and Confessional Media in Austerity Britain. Media, Culture & Society, 37:4: 566-580.
Carruth, A.D. & D.W. Hill. 2015. Identity and Distinctness in Online Interaction: Encountering a Problem for Narrative Accounts of Self. Ethics and Information Technology, 17:2, 103-112.
Hill, D.W. 2013. Avatar Ethics: Beyond Images and Signs. Journal for Cultural Research, 17:1, 69-84.
Hill, D.W. 2012. Total Gating: Sociality and the Fortification of Networked Spaces. Mobilities, 7:1, 115-129.
Book Chapter
Hill, D.W. 2011. Jean-François Lyotard and the Inhumanity of Internet Surveillance. In C. Fuchs et al (eds.), Internet and Surveillance: The Challenge of Web 2.0 and Social Media, 106-123. Routledge.
