Guilel Treiber has just obtained a small NWO Open Competition XS-grant for new research into a proposed new sociological category: the Digital Crowd. He will start work in January 2027. His research will strengthen Radboud University's position as a leading in institution in research into value-driven AI and digitalisation. Treiber will conduct his research at the Radboud Center for Philsophy and Society (RCPS).
From NWO's announcement
'Digitalization has transformed political mobilization, yet current scholarship struggles to explain fluid online movements, often categorizing them as either rational networks or irrational "mass behavior." This project introduces an innovative concept: the Digital Crowd. By synthesizing 19th-century crowd psychology with modern socio-technical theory, I argue that algorithmic platforms structurally operationalize affective contagion, maintaining the crowd as a permanent, active political force. Through historical-philosophical research, an interdisciplinary workshop, and a special journal issue, this project provides a vital new analytical lens to understand the emotional dynamics—such as viral outrage—and democratic challenges of digitally mediated mass-societies. The values which drive this project are democratic governance, institutional stability, social cohesiveness and the reduction of social polarization.'
Read the full announcement at the NWO-website.