Social Network Analysis of the Functional Meaning of the Term “Digital Economy”

In this article digital economy is analyzed as a socially constructed concept. It is assumed that the digital economy can be an ideological term. Ideological terms, unlike instrumental ones, are located in the center of the network and define thematic directions, instrumental ones are located between the center and the periphery. Instrumentality or ideological character of the term was analyzed by building on the array of scientific articles and texts on the digital economy thematic trees in the Text Analyst environment and analysis of semantic networks. Social network analysis was used to verify the results of thematic modelling. The results of the analysis showed that the digital economy is more likely to be classified as an ideological concept rather than an instrumental one.