Evans, James and Pedro Aceves. 2016. “Machine Translation: Mining Text for Social Theory”. Annual Review of Sociology 42:21-50. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074206
I think the use of machine learning in, say, detecting latent ideology is very interesting, and it hits on the idea that people express concepts through text. However, I also wonder how much conceptual change or nuance isn't in the text itself or is hidden through synonymy or changes in how words are used. I'm a content analysis amateur, so I'm hoping to learn more this quarter and sort out these questions!
I think the use of machine learning in, say, detecting latent ideology is very interesting, and it hits on the idea that people express concepts through text. However, I also wonder how much conceptual change or nuance isn't in the text itself or is hidden through synonymy or changes in how words are used. I'm a content analysis amateur, so I'm hoping to learn more this quarter and sort out these questions!