Frank Webster examines the claim that modern society has transitioned into a fundamentally new stage characterized by the dominance of information. He scrutinizes the definitions of an information economy and evaluates the shift from industrial manufacturing to data-driven labor. The text analyzes major theoretical frameworks, including Daniel Bell’s concept of post-industrialism, Manuel Castells’ network society, and the perspectives of postmodernists like Jean Baudrillard. Webster questions whether technological acceleration has birthed a new social order or merely reinforced existing capitalist trajectories through intensified globalization and internet expansion.
This book serves students of sociology, media studies, and political science who need a skeptical analysis of technological determinism. Readers gain a framework for distinguishing between quantitative increases in data and qualitative shifts in institutional power. By studying these competing social theories, the reader learns to identify how corporate and political interests shape the digital landscape. The volume provides the analytical tools necessary to critique the assumption that more information automatically results in a more informed or equitable civilization.
Deep and outward-looking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Systems Thinker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2002
- Publisher
- Presbyterian Publishing Corp
- ISBN
- 9780415282017
- Language
- EN
