The Information Society: Cyber Dreams and Digital NightmaresPolity, 3. nov. 2008 - 266 sider What are we to make of the information society? Many prominent theorists have argued it to be the most profound and comprehensive transformation of economy, culture and politics since the rise of the industrial way of life in the 18th century. Some saw its arrival in a positive light, where the dreams of democracy, of ‘connectivity’ and ‘efficiency’ constituted a break with the old ways. But other thinkers viewed it more in terms of the recurrent nightmare of capitalism, where the processes of exploitation, commodification and alienation are given much freer rein than ever before. In this book Robert Hassan, a prominent theorist in new media and its effects, analyses and critically appraises these positions and forms them into a coherent narrative to illuminate the phenomenon. Surveying the works of major information society theorists from Daniel Bell to Nicholas Negroponte, and from Vincent Mosco to Manuel Castells, The Information Society is an invaluable resource for understanding the nature of the information society—as well as the meta-processes of neoliberal globalisation and the revolution in information technologies that made it possible. |
Indhold
The Acceleration of Just About Everything | 1 |
2 The Coming of the Information Society | 32 |
3 Information Takes Over | 75 |
4 A Shrinking Planet | 109 |
5 Commodification and Culture in the Information Society | 135 |
6 Faster and Faster | 159 |
Andre udgaver - Se alle
The Information Society: Cyber Dreams and Digital Nightmares Robert Hassan Ingen forhåndsvisning - 2008 |
Almindelige termer og sætninger
able accessed argued automation become blog bloggers Cairncross capitalism capitalist Castells China commodification communication competition computerization connected context corporations create cyberspace democracy democratic Dyson economy efficiency emerged example Facebook faster flexible Fordism Gilder Google growing Harvey human ICTs ideas ideology increasingly individual industries information society information technologies institutional intellectual interaction Internet J. C. R. Licklider kind knowledge Legend of Mir lives logic Marx mation society means Media Lab Microsoft millions MIT Media Lab mobile phone modernity Moreover Mosco Negroponte neoliberal neoliberal globalization network effect network society organization perspective political postmodern production reality realm reflect revolution soci social acceleration social democracy social networking space speed structures Sunstein tech theory things tion transformed University users virtual Wikipedia Wired magazine workers writes YouTube