The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture is a trilogy of books by sociologist

Manuel Castells Manuel Castells Oliván (; ; born 9 February 1942) is a Spanish sociologist. He is well known for his authorship of a trilogy of works, entitled The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. He is a scholar of the information society, co ...

: ''The Rise of the Network Society'' (1996), ''The Power of Identity'' (1997), and ''End of Millennium'' (1998). The second edition was heavily revised; volume one is 40 per cent different from the first edition.

Summary

''The Information Age'' is an account of the role of information in contemporary society.Webster, Frank. 2002. Theories of the information society. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.98-99 Manuel Castells describes the shift from an industrial society to an informational society, which started in the 1970s.Castells, M., 2010. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. This Network Society is structured around networks instead of individual actors, and works through a constant flow of information through technology. Castells emphasises the interrelationship of social, economic and political features of society, and argues that the 'network' is the defining feature that marks our current epoch.Webster, 2002. pp.99-101

''The Rise of the Network Society''

In this volume Castells analyses the structural changes to the global economy that took place from the 1970s to 1990s. He describes the 'new economy', which he claims is based on 'a new mode of development, informationalism, of which networking is a critical attribute'. In this new 'Informational Economy' a firm's competitiveness is dependent on its knowledge of technology, information, and access to networks. The new economy is defined by a 'transformation of work and employment'. This concept implies that there is higher unemployment in countries where technology is scarce. The uneven development of new technology leads to 'social polarization and social exclusion'. This concept describes an increase in equality across nations due to globalization and an uneven distribution of technology, and thus networking opportunities and lower competitiveness. This transition to an informational mode of development is enabled by the growth of information technology and changes in

organizational structure An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...

based on networks. Castells examines statistical evidence of changes in work structure and labour patterns, and concludes that while the networked 'symbolic analyst' (or

knowledge worker Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is to "thin ...

) may seek work globally, we cannot say that there is a true global labour force since the majority of workers are still geographically confined and immobile. Informationalism has not led to mass joblessness, but it has led to a structural change in the work force, that of instability: in highly developed countries, a majority of workers no longer have a traditional work pattern, but part-time and

temporary employment Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...

has become the norm. Castells then discusses new media and communication technologies based around networks, arguing that they are contributing to a fundamental change in culture. The new development is a 'culture of real virtuality', which describes a culture that is organized around electronic media. He says that 'the ''

space of flows The space of flows is a high-level cultural abstraction of space and time, and their dynamic interactions with digital age society. The concept was created by the sociologist and cybernetic culture theoretician Manuel Castells to "reconceptualize ne ...

'' and ''timeless time'' are the material foundations of a new culture',Castells, M., 2010. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society. 2nd ed. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. p.406. that of the

network society Network society is the expression coined in 1991 related to the social, political, economic and cultural changes caused by the spread of networked, digital information and communications technologies. The intellectual origins of the idea can be trac ...

. The concept of 'timeless time' refers to the collapsing of time in global informational networks, for example automated financial transactions.

References

External links

A scholarly review of the Information Age trilogy
(

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and se ...

copy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture 1990s books Information Age Sociology books Works about the information economy

Summary

''The Rise of the Network Society''

See also

References

Further reading

External links