Manuel Castells
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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 An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, Content creation, creation, information distribution, distribution, manipulation and information integration, integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drive ...
,
communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
and
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
. Castells is the full professor of
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. He is also the university professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication,
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, Los Angeles. Additionally, he is the professor emeritus of sociology and professor emeritus of city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 24 years. He is also a fellow of St. John's College at the University of Cambridge and holds the chair of network society at Collège d’Études Mondiales,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. The 2000–2014 research survey of the
Social Sciences Citation Index The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) is a commercial citation index product of Clarivate Analytics. It was originally developed by the Institute for Scientific Information from the Science Citation Index. The Social Sciences Citation Index is ...
ranks him as the world's fifth most-cited social science scholar, and the foremost-cited communication scholar. In 2012, Castells was awarded the Holberg Prize, for having "shaped our understanding of the political dynamics of urban and global economies in the network society." In 2013, he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Sociology for "his wide-ranging and imaginative thinking through of the implications of the great technological changes of our time." In January 2020, he was appointed Minister of Universities in the Sánchez II Government of
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, a position he held until his resignation in December 2021.


Biography


Early life

Manuel Castells was born on February 9, 1942, in the city of
Hellín Hellín is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located in the province of Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha. The municipality spans across a total area of 781.66 km2. As of 1 January 2020, it has a population of 30,200, which mak ...
, in La Mancha region, Spain. His parents, Fernando Castells Adriaensens and Josefina Olivan Escartin were both civil servants. He also has a younger sister named Irene. The family's residence in La Mancha was short lived, as it was related to Castells' parents' work. In fact, due to the mobility of his father's career as a finance inspector, Castells' childhood was also mobile. He grew up in the cities of Madrid, Cartagena, and Valencia. Politics were a part of Castells' life from an early age. He notes:
My parents were very good parents. It was a conservative family — very strongly conservative family. But I would say that the main thing that shaped my character besides my parents was the fact that I grew up in fascist Spain. It's difficult for people of the younger generation to realize what that means, even for the Spanish younger generation. You had actually to resist the whole environment, and to be yourself, you had to fight and to politicize yourself from the age of fifteen or sixteen.
Castells' engagement is evident in his early opposition to
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
’s semi-fascist regime. His father initially fought in its favor as a member of the Falange Party. Castells' father eventually abandoned this mentality, as he was no longer pleased with Franco's rule.


Early education and activism

Castells completed his secondary education in Barcelona. He was a strong student, and in 1958, he completed his course of study two years early, at the age of sixteen. The same year, He continued his education at the
University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...
, where he studied both Law and Economics. Beyond these subjects, Castells was also interested in literature and the theatre. However, the oppressive Franco government cracked down on students’ self-expression. Theatre performances were censored and student journals were shut down. This motivated Castells to join the anti-Franco movement in 1960 at age 18. He was one of very few students to engage in this kind of activism, largely because it was highly illegal and dangerous. Secrecy was imperative. Castells joined an opposition group of diverse ideologies called the Workers Front of Catalonia. From there, he coupled his formal education with copious amounts of reading to supplement his activism. Among many other topics, Castells involved himself in the exploration of
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
and
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
theory. In May 1962, Castells' activism led him to participate in a strike. Its goal was to protest the iron-fisted government and stand in solidarity with exploited miners in the Asturias region of Spain. This resulted in many of Castells' friends being arrested and beaten. Fortunately, Castells was able to escape to France, but without the social support he had access to in Spain. As a result, he was not able to complete his degree at the University of Barcelona. Following his escape, a fellow resistance member assisted him in achieving political refugee status, and he travelled to Paris. In Paris, at the age of 20, he completed his degree, and then progressed to the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, where he earned a
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in Sociology. Castells graduated from the Sorbonne in 1964 and received his PhD from the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
in 1967.


Catalan identity

Castells identifies as Catalan largely because of his connection to Barcelona, which is recognized as the center of the Catalan movement for independence. He spent a large portion of his adolescence there, completing his secondary and beginning his college education at the
University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...
. Castells also traces his paternal lineage to the city. This aspect of Castells' identity is related to his resistance to Franco's oppressive regime. The
Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...
was not taught at school under Franco, and Castells' family, being from a Spanish speaking region of Spain, therefore did not speak it. However, he took the initiative to teach the language to himself while at University, which he states has helped him feel more connected to his Catalan identity. Castells is a Catalan nationalist, but not a separatist. He has expressed support for the Catalan Socialist Party.


Academic career

At the age of twenty-four, Castells became an instructor in several Parisian universities, and would teach from 1967 to 1979. First, he taught at the Paris X University Nanterre (where he taught Daniel Cohn-Bendit). He was terminated from this position as a result of the
1968 student protests The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, which were predominantly characterized by the rise of left-wing politics, Anti-war movement, anti-war sentiment, Civil and political rights, civil rights urgency, youth C ...
. He then taught at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales from 1970 to 1979. In 1979, the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
appointed him as Professor of Sociology, and Professor of City and Regional Planning. In 2001, he was a research professor at the UOC-Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (
Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia (; ) is a private Open supported learning, open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish language, Spanish and English languag ...
), Barcelona. Then, in 2003, he joined the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(USC) Annenberg School for Communication, as a professor of Communication and the first Wallis Annenberg-endowed Chair of Communication and Technology. Castells is a founding member of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and a senior member of the diplomacy center's Faculty Advisory Council and is a member of th
Annenberg Research Network on International Communication
Castells divides his residence between Spain and the US. Since 2008, he has been a member of the governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. He has been the minister of universities in Spain since January 2020 until December 2021.


Theoretical contributions

The sociological work of Manuel Castells synthesizes empirical research literature with combinations of urban sociology,
organization studies Organization studies (also called organization science or organizational studies) is the academic field interested in a ''collective activity, and how it relates to organization, organizing, and management''. It is "the examination of how individ ...
, internet studies,
social movements A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of ...
,
sociology of culture The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, ...
, and
political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
. About the origins of the network society, he posits that changes to the network form of enterprise predate the electronic internet technologies (usually) associated with network organization forms (cf. Organization theory (Castells)).


Information Age

Castells' most well-known work is a trilogy of books, entitled '' The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture''. Overall, it comprehends three sociological dimensions— production, power, and
experience Experience refers to Consciousness, conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience i ...
—stressing that the organization of the
economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
, of the
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
and its institutions, and the ways that people create meaning in their lives through collective action, are irreducible sources of
social dynamics Social dynamics (or sociodynamics) is the study of the behavior of groups and of the interactions of individual group members, aiming to understand the emergence of complex social behaviors among microorganisms, plants and animals, including h ...
—that must be understood as both discrete and inter-related entities. The ''Information Age'' trilogy is his précis: "Our societies are increasingly structured around the bipolar opposition of the Net (social network) and the Self"; the "
Social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...
" denotes the network organizations replacing vertically integrated hierarchies as the dominant form of social organization, the
Self In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes. The first-person perspective distinguishes selfhood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) same ...
denotes the practices a person uses in reaffirming social identity and meaning in a continually changing cultural landscape. In other words, Castells' theory of the Information Age explores the dissonance between “universal, digital language,” and individual, even local identities. Our physical selves exist in different places and experience different cultures, but the mind has essentially migrated into the world of the internet and the television. They exist in a “global space of instant information". Castells maintains that the Information Age can "unleash the power of the mind", which would dramatically increase the productivity of individuals and lead to greater leisure, allowing individuals to achieve "greater spiritual depth and more environmental consciousness". Such change would be positive, he argues, in that it would cause resource consumption to decrease. Castells also became an established cybernetic culture theoretician with his
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
development analysis stressing the roles of the state (military and academic), social movements (computer hackers and social activists), and business, in shaping the economic infrastructure according to their (conflicting) interests.


Informationalism

Castells' concepts of The
Information Age The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...
, The Age of Consumption, and The Network Society are all perspectives attempting to describe modern life as it is known in the present and to depict the future of society. As Castells suggests, contemporary society may be described as "replacing the antiquated metaphor of the ''machine'' with that of the ''network''". Put simply, this quote exemplifies Castells' concept of “Informationalism.” He asserts that from the 1970s to the present day, informational technology has allowed large businesses, organizations, and social structures in general to form global networks. The world is growing away from industrialism, which is focused on economic growth. Informationalism strives to develop knowledge and create massive networks. This theory is, of course, related to the growth of
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
. As networks grow larger, the state gradually plays a smaller role in the capitalist system. Common systems of information have begun to replace it. They act as a connector between networks that may very likely be on opposite sides of the globe. It is important to note, however, that this development does not come without some level of exclusion. For certain areas of the globe that are not as connected with mainstream society and massive international networks, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep pace with the expansion of capitalism. Excluded communities respond by developing their own systems, which are often based in illicit economic activity. These illicit economic activities illustrate another of Castells' points, that resistance to globalization is a result of the development of the information age. He explains this using an example:
Well, if I have no value for these global networks of power, finance, technology, then I build my own value, my own system. I build my family. I build my nation. I build my God. And, if I am not listened to, then I will become more and more enraged.


Marxism

In the 1970s, as a still-growing intellectual, Castells centered his research and intellectual processes around the works of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
because he, “felt the need to communicate to the world of political change through its language –
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
." Castells developed his ideas by studying the works of several Marxists, including
Louis Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser was a long-time member an ...
. Althusser utilized a structuralist perspective in his works, which may also be seen in some of Castells' earliest publications. For example, ''The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach'' was originally published (in French) in 1972, and is a major development in the field of urban sociology. This work emphasizes the role of social movements in the conflictive transformation of the city (cf. post-industrial society). Castells emphasizes that problems within cities do not exist in a social vacuum, and that they must be contextualized to be appropriately analyzed. Castells also introduced the concept of "collective consumption" (public transport, public housing, etc.) comprehending a wide range of social struggles—displaced from the economic stratum to the political stratum via state intervention. Castells no longer identifies as a Marxist. This shift in ideology occurred when he realized that the concepts he was interested in exploring could not be appropriately evaluated by Marxism. Marxism uses class as its major lens for examining social life, and Castells had become interested in ideas that could not be understood by considering class alone. By moving away from Marxism, Castells could explore the concepts of gender, urban social movements, and nationality in a more thoughtful way. He is still interested in ideas that are related to Marxism, such as social change, power relations, and technology, but has broadened his scope of how he approaches them as topics. Castells has said that he prefers to think of theory as a tool, and Marxism is simply a tool that he uses less now. He has not renounced Marx, but has chosen different tools to analyze the social world with. The following quote exemplifies the expansion of Castells' theoretical paradigm.
When I left Spain again to go to Berkeley, I was no longer interested in correct answers but in relevant questions. I became more political when I left Marxism. I left the Parisian salons with wonderful categories that had nothing to do with reality and started relying more on my own observations.
Transcending Marxist structures in the early 1980s, he concentrated upon the role of new technologies in the restructuring of an economy. In 1989, he introduced the concept of the " space of flows", the material and immaterial components of global information networks used for the real-time, long-distance co-ordination of the economy. In the 1990s, he combined his two research strands in '' The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture'', published as a trilogy, '' The Rise of the Network Society'' (1996), ''The Power of Identity'' (1997), and ''End of Millennium'' (1998); two years later, its worldwide, favourable critical acceptance in university seminars, prompted publication of a second (2000) edition that is 40 per cent different from the first (1996) edition.


Critical responses to Castells

Over the years, Castells' work has been met with several noteworthy critiques. Some criticisms of Castells' work compare his ideas to functionalism, in that they include some “abstract system-building.” In other words, there is a certain level of inattention to individuals, while sweeping generalizations are made about society.Mann, Douglas. 2008. “Postmodernism: Political Economy and Communications.” Pp. 274–275 in Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory. Canada: Oxford University Press. Additionally, Castells' work includes observations about the intense global influence of informationalism. There is some discrepancy about how much of the globe is truly “dominated” by expansive informational networks. The global population is so diverse that there are many exceptions to the idea of complete global domination. These information networks have the potential to be useful “
ideal type Ideal type (), also known as pure type, is a typological term most closely associated with the sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920). For Weber, the conduct of social science depends upon the construction of abstract, hypothetical concepts. The "id ...
s” for studying global relations, but one should exercise caution when using them to model the real world. Castells has also been criticized for the conservatism that appears within his theories. He has noted that there is “little chance of social change” within the network society. This reveals a thought process that supports the status quo, which can be a problem for social change and justice movements. Related to this criticism, some scholars have found it peculiar that while Castells' theorizes quite a bit about global connection, he does not explore the potential of those global connections to establish an international system for the protection of human rights and cultural difference.


Publications

Manuel Castells is one of the world's most often-cited social science and communications scholars. Castells is a sole author of 23 books and editor or co-editor of fifteen more, as well as over one hundred articles in academic journals. The trilogy, The Information Age, has been compared to the work of Karl Marx and Max Weber. It took him fifteen years to conduct research for the trilogy. Books * ''The Urban Question. A Marxist Approach'' ( Alan Sheridan, translator). London, Edward Arnold (1977) (Original publication in French, 1972) * ''City, Class and Power''. London; New York, MacMillan; St. Martins Press (1978) * ''The Economic Crisis and American Society''. Princeton, NJ, Princeton UP (1980) * ''The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements''. Berkeley: University of California Press (1983) * ''The Informational City: Information Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban Regional Process''. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell (1989) * ''Technopoles of the World : The Making of 21st Century Industrial Complexes''. London, New York: Routledge (1994) * The ''
Information Age The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...
'' trilogy:
* '' The Internet Galaxy, Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society''. Oxford, Oxford University Press (2001) * ''The Information Society and the
Welfare State A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...
: The Finnish Model.'' Oxford UP, Oxford (2002) (co-author, Pekka Himanen ) * ''The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.'' Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, Edward Elgar (2004), (editor and co-author), . * ''The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy.'' Washington, DC, Center for Transatlantic Relations (2006) (co-editor) * '' Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press (2006) (co-author) * ''Communication power''. Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press (2009) * ''Aftermath: the cultures of the economic crisis''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (2012) * ''Networks of Outrage and Hope. Social Movements in the Internet Age''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Polity Press (2012) *''Reconceptualizing Development in the Global Information Age.'' OXFORD University Press (2014) (co-author, Pekka Himanen ) *''Rupture: the crisis of liberal democracy''. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press (2018) Journal αrticles *
Social Uses of Wireless Communications: The Mobile Information Society
', co-author of the paper for the ''International Workshop on Wireless Communication Policies and Prospects: A Global Perspective, USC,'' 8–9 October 2004. * Castells, M (2007
Communication, power and counter-power in the network society
International Journal of Communication 1(1): 238–66. * Arsenault, A, and Castells, M. 2008
The structure and dynamics of global multimedia business networks
'' International Journal of Communication'' 2707–48. * Arsenault, A & Castells, M. (2008
Switching power: Rupert Murdoch and the global business of media politics: A sociological analysis
'' International Sociology'' 23(4): 488.


References


Further reading

* Susser, Ida (2002). ''The Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory''. Oxford, Blackwell. * Castells, Manuel; Ince, Martin (2003). ''Conversations with Manuel Castells''. Oxford, Polity Press. * Stalder, Felix (2006). ''Manuel Castells and the Theory of the Network Society''. Oxford, Polity Press. * Howard, Phillip (2011). ''Castells and the Media''. Cambridge. Polity Press.


External links


Webpage of Castells at USC Annenberg

Webpage of Castells at UC Berkeley
(
Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
listing)
Website devoted to his work
made by Open University of Catalonia

* '' ttp://ijoc.org/ International Journal of Communication' Academic journal co-founded by Castells, established in 2007
Manuel Castells' World of Communication
a Manuel Castells exclusive monthly article in Media Coolhunting.
Audio: Manuel Castells in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme
'' The Forum''
Video Stream: Manuel Castells October 2009 keynote at University of Oxford Internet Institute for the release of his new book, "Communication Power"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castells, Manuel 1942 births Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Living people Members of Academia Europaea Spanish sociologists University of Southern California faculty Writers from California Urban theorists Writers about globalization UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty American sociologists Holberg Prize laureates Urban sociologists Systems scientists Communication theorists Mass media theorists Fellows of the American Academy of Political and Social Science People from Hellín Philosophers of technology Government ministers of Spain Open University of Catalonia Academic staff of the Open University of Catalonia University of Paris alumni Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge