The Network Society

CONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
A New Infrastructure for Society 1
A Second Communications Revolution? 3
Characteristics of the New Media 6
Communication Capacities of the New Media 13
The Nature and Design of this Book 17
2 Networks: The Nervous System of Society 19
The Network Society and Other Classifications 19
A Short History of the Human Web 21
Networks at All Levels 24
Causes of the Rise of Networks 29
From Mass Society to Network Society 32
Changing Relations in the Network Society 37
3 Technology 42
Introduction 42
Technical Foundations of the Network Society 43
Telecommunication Networks 46
Data Communication Networks 48
Mass Communication Networks 51
Integrated Networks 53
Multimedia and Broadband Networks 55
Future Trends 58
4 Economy 61
Introduction 61
Causes of the Current Communications Revolution 62
A Flow Economy 65
Markets, Hierarchies and Networks 72
A New Economy? 76
The Producers: From Infrastructure to Service Providers 81
The Consumers: Pushers and Pulled 89
Conclusions 93
5 Politics and Power 95
Introduction 95
The Vulnerability of Networks 96
The Spread and Concentration of Politics 98
The Claims of E-Government and Digital Democracy 103
Power in the Organization 108
Privacy and Personal Autonomy 112
Conclusions 125
6 Law 127
Introduction 127
The Law Undermined by Networks 128
Who Rules the Internet? 130
Information and Communication Freedom 137
Rights of Ownership 143
The Right to Privacy 149
Conclusions 154
7 Social Structure 156
Introduction 156
Space and Time in the Network Society 157
The Blurring Spheres of Living 161
Communities and Social Relations 165
Unity and Fragmentation: A New Social Cohesion 171
Networks and Social (In)equality 174
The Digital Divide 177
The Instability of the Network Society 186
Conclusions 188
8 Culture 190
Introduction 190
Living in a Digital Culture 191
The Quantity and Quality of New Media Content 199
Changing Media Use 204
Conclusions 208
9 Psychology 210
Introdution 210
Perception and the New Media 211
Cognition and the New Media 217
Learning with the New Media 224
The Social Psychology of CMC 226
Changes in the Human Personality? 233
Conclusions 238
10 Conclusions and Policy Perspectives 240
Introduction 240
General Conclusions 240
The Information and Network Society in North America,
Europe, East Asia and the Third World 244
Policy Perspectives for the Network Society 253
Glossary 264
References 272
Index 288

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