The information society PDF
Preview The information society
The Information Society Digital Media and Society Series Mark Deuze, Media Work Alexander Halavais, Search Engine Society Robert Hassan, The Information Society Tim Jordan, Hacking Jill Walker Rettberg, Blogging The Information Society Robert Hassan polity Copyright ©Robert Hassan 2008 The right of Robert Hassan to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2008 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge cb2 1ur, UK Polity Press 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permis- sion of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-4179-9 ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-4180-5 (pb) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset in 10.25 on 13 pt FF Scala by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Kings Lynn, Norfolk The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for exter- nal websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any neces- sary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: www.polity.co.uk Contents Preface vii 1 The Information Society Today: 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 7 Who Rules?: Politics and Control in the Information Society 190 Glossary 224 References 237 Index 253 v Preface We live in an information society. This much is clear; indeed, this much is acutely palpable. It surrounds us and we are a part of it. We ‘know’ this society insofar as it constitutes a growing reality that is reshaping the world and what it means to be an individual, a worker, and a member of the public within it. Information technologies based upon computer logic have networked our world, shrinking it to the point where it is pos- sible to be constantly in touch with others, no matter where they are or what the time is. The extent of this connectivity is historically unprecedented and it is something that is growing in complexity and utility every minute of every day. How do we make sense of it? Most of us are by now pretty comfortable with the Internet, for example. We use it to shop, to be entertained and to find out information on the widest possible range of subjects. But why is it ‘there’? And what made it technologically (and politically) possible? Mobile phones, similarly, are a ubiquitous device used by seemingly everyone and are evident when walking on a city street, or travelling on public transport, from New Delhi to Sydney and from Montevideo to London. Mobile phones were first developed in the 1940s, but what caused the tech- nology to lie undeveloped and uncommercialized until the 1990s when they exploded as a social and cultural phenome- non, to the point where half of humanity now owns or has access to one? The information society (and the networkable applications and gadgets that comprise it) is also now a central component of how we earn a living. From the florist’s shop on the street vii viii Preface corner to the executive oªce on the top floor, being a part of the network society is becoming more and more a necessity instead of a flight of fancy. The florists will use it to find the best prices from wholesalers and to advertise their wares; and the executives of the multinational will use digital connectivity for more or less the same reasons. We take all this for granted now, with barely a thought given to the process. Moreover, through practice and through trial and error we are becoming competent and often expert with these growing arrays of tech- nical applications and gadgets, and through this learning process we simultaneously stitch ourselves deeper into the fabric of the information society. It becomes part of us and vice versa. But what does it all mean? What has been gained, and has anything been lost? Is the world a more eªcient, smarter and better-organized place? Perhaps most centrally, much of the rhetoric of the information society is oriented towards placing an emphasis upon the notion that information technologies ‘empower’ the individual. As Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, put it, computers are ‘the most empowering tool we’ve evercreated’ (Grossman, 2004). How true is this? Do you feel ‘empowered’ by the acquisition of a new computer upgrade, or a faster processor, or a more multifunctional mobile phone? These questions and more are becoming increasingly salient, and so this book is intended as an introductory guide to this new and radical society. We can begin by agreeing that it is impossi- ble to look at the information society as some kind of punctual event – as if it is something that simply ‘happened’ in conjunc- tion with sudden and unexpected advances in computer tech- nology. The reality is, to employ a phrase by Fredric Jameson, that our technological present has ‘a before and after time that only gradually reveal themselves’ (2001). It has a history (or his- tories) that are traceable through an interpretive framework of political economy that makes connections to the relevant social, political, economic and technological structures and institu- tions. The strands of history stretch back to the beginnings of
The list of books you might like
