Digital Grooming: Discourses of Manipulation and Cyber-Crime

Illicit digital activity, such as online grooming, is a growing concern, with extremists using social media to manipulate individuals for sexual abuse, ideological purposes, and drug dealing. Digital Grooming by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus examines these practices in digital spaces and reveals common manipulation strategies used by groomers. The book provides valuable insights for discourse analysis, forensic linguistics, communication, media studies, and practitioners working to counter online grooming and promote digital civility and safety.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 21 February 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Illicit digital activity, a significant and rapidly escalating concern, has garnered increasing attention from governments and media corporations alike. Over the past decade, the excessive use of social media has sparked mounting apprehensions. In her book, Digital Grooming, Nuria Lorenzo-Dus delves into the examination of manipulation practices in digital spaces that exist beyond the confines of legal boundaries. Lorenzo-Dus identifies and thoroughly analyzes the online discourse of adults engaging in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children (digital sexual grooming), as well as the emergence of extreme ideology groups that influence others to adopt their views (digital ideological grooming). Additionally, she explores the prevalence of drug dealers soliciting business in crypto markets (digital commercial grooming). Through sophisticated style and stance analyses of extensive and diverse datasets, the book unveils that digital sexual, ideological, and commercial grooming practices share numerous similarities. Three stances—expertise, openness, and avidity—serve as the framework for this manipulative work, which constructs groomers and their targets as sharing a homogeneous identity. By shedding new light on grooming practices, this book emerges as a valuable resource for discourse analysis, forensic linguistics, communication, media studies, and practitioners seeking to counter online grooming through policy changes, detection software, and prevention-focused training to foster digital civility and safety.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 234 x 155 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190845186