{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,6]],"date-time":"2026-07-06T19:05:41Z","timestamp":1783364741357,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]],"date-time":"2014-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1396310400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Google Trends reveals that at the time we were writing our article on \u2018The Coming Crisis of Empirical Sociology\u2019 in 2007 almost nobody was searching the internet for \u2018Big Data\u2019. It was only towards the very end of 2010 that the term began to register, just ahead of an explosion of interest from 2011 onwards. In this commentary we take the opportunity to reflect back on the claims we made in that original paper in light of more recent discussions about the social scientific implications of the inundation of digital data. Did our paper, with its emphasis on the emergence of, what we termed, \u2018social transactional data\u2019 and \u2018digital byproduct data\u2019 prefigure contemporary debates that now form the basis and rationale for this excellent new journal? Or was the paper more concerned with broader methodological, theoretical and political debates that have somehow been lost in all of the loud babble that has come to surround Big Data. Using recent work on the BBC Great British Class Survey as an example this brief paper offers a reflexive and critical reflection on what has become \u2013 much to the surprise of its authors \u2013 one of the most cited papers in the discipline of sociology in the last decade.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714540280","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,26]],"date-time":"2014-06-26T00:40:19Z","timestamp":1403743219000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":176,"title":["After the crisis? Big Data and the methodological challenges of empirical sociology"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"1","author":[{"given":"Roger","family":"Burrows","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mike","family":"Savage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Measure and Value","author":"Adkins L","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr2-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Live Methods","author":"Back L","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr3-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Beer D and Burrows R (2007) Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some initial considerations.\n                      Sociological Research Online\n                      . www.socresonline.org.uk\/12\/5\/17.html.","DOI":"10.5153\/sro.1560"},{"key":"bibr4-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276413476542"},{"key":"bibr5-2053951714540280","first-page":"572","volume-title":"The Handbook of Visual Culture","author":"Burrows","year":"2011"},{"key":"bibr6-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.2012.02077.x"},{"key":"bibr7-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038506067507"},{"key":"bibr8-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Accounts and Action","author":"Gilbert GN","year":"1983"},{"key":"bibr9-2053951714540280","volume-title":"The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology","author":"Gouldner A","year":"1970"},{"key":"bibr10-2053951714540280","first-page":"130","volume-title":"Measure and Value: A Sociological Review Monograph","author":"Kelly A","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr11-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social","author":"Lury C","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr12-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Big Data: A Revolution that will Transform How We Live, Work and Think","author":"Mayer-Sch\u00f6nberger V","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr13-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"McKie L and Ryan L (eds) (2012) Introduction to e-special issue: Exploring trends and challenges in sociological research\n                      . Sociology\n                      46(6): 1\u20137.","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038512452356"},{"key":"bibr14-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mills C (2014) The Great British Class Fiasco: A comment on Savage et\u00a0al.\n                      Sociology.\n                      Epub ahead of print 14 March 2014. DOI: 10.1177\/0038038513519880.","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038513519880"},{"key":"bibr15-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.2008.00803.x"},{"key":"bibr16-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1469540509354673"},{"key":"bibr17-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0263276413484941"},{"key":"bibr18-2053951714540280","unstructured":"Rose D (2013) Little solidarity over the question of social class.\n                      The Guardian\n                      , 5 April."},{"key":"bibr19-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780199587650.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr20-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038507080443"},{"key":"bibr21-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038509105420"},{"key":"bibr22-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0038038513481128"},{"key":"bibr23-2053951714540280","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446211458"},{"key":"bibr24-2053951714540280","volume-title":"Unobtrusive Methods: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences","author":"Webb EJ","year":"1966"}],"container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951714540280","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/2053951714540280","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951714540280","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T13:00:11Z","timestamp":1777381211000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2053951714540280"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/2053951714540280"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/2053951714540280","relation":{},"ISSN":["2053-9517","2053-9517"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2053-9517","type":"print"},{"value":"2053-9517","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2014,4,1]]},"article-number":"2053951714540280"}}