{"product_id":"9789819255023","title":"Calibrated Intimacies Algorithms, Emotion, and the Soft Power of Apps","description":"\u003ch3\u003ePlatform Societies\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003eCalibrated Intimacies\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAlgorithms, Emotion, and the Soft Power of Apps\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eTanja Bosch\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eSocial Science \/ Media Studies\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis open access Palgrave Pivot examines how mobile apps organise emotional life, digital intimacy and everyday forms of platform power. Bringing platform studies and app studies into dialogue with digital sociology, feminist theory and the sociology of emotions, Tanja Bosch develops four connected concepts: affective legibility, calibrated intimacy, emotional governance and the soft power of apps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough critical autoethnography, interface analysis, reflective diaries, screenshots and platform data, the book follows embodied, ambient, precarious and domestic forms of app-based intimacy. It considers fitness tracking through Garmin Connect and Strava; recommendation and everyday accompaniment through Spotify, Instagram and Google Maps; uneven visibility and risk on Tinder and TikTok; and protective surveillance through Life360, smart-home systems and menstrual tracking apps. Across these settings, metrics, notifications, recommendations and feedback loops make feelings, bodies and relationships legible while shaping expectations of progress, care, safety and recognition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book advances a South African and majority-world perspective on digital intimacy. It shows how prepaid data, interrupted electricity, racialised inequality, gendered vulnerability and uneven infrastructures of safety expose assumptions of continuous connectivity in platform theory. It also traces how users negotiate platform power through selective visibility, opacity, refusal and disconnection. Calibrated Intimacies offers a situated account of how care and control become entangled in the ordinary infrastructures of app-based life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTanja Bosch \u003c\/strong\u003eis Professor of Media Studies and Production at the Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is the author of \u003cem\u003eBroadcasting Democracy\u003c\/em\u003e (2017), \u003cem\u003eSocial Media and Everyday Life in South Africa\u003c\/em\u003e (2020); co-editor of \u003cem\u003eDigital Citizenship in Africa\u003c\/em\u003e (2023), \u003cem\u003eFeminist Digital Citizenship in Africa \u003c\/em\u003e(2025) and \u003cem\u003eThe Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics\u003c\/em\u003e (2nd edition, forthcoming). Holding the position of NRF South African Research (SARChI) Chair in Digital Media Sociology, Tanja researches \u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW163110641 BCX0\"\u003eplatform power and African digital cultures.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e23 December 2026\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSpringer Nature Singapore\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePalgrave Macmillan\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9789819255023\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Springer Nature Singapore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51957540749452,"sku":"9789819255023","price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/9789819255023.jpg?v=1786056446","url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9789819255023","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}