Showing papers by "Manuel Castells published in 2004"

The Network Society

Abstract: Manuel Castells – one of the world’s pre-eminent social scientists – has drawn together a stellar group of contributors to explore the patterns and dynamics of the network society in its cultural and institutional diversity. The book analyzes the technological, cultural and institutional transformation of societies around the world in terms of the critical role of electronic communication networks in business, everyday life, public services, social interaction and politics. The contributors demonstrate that the network society is the new form of social organization in the Information age, replacing the Industrial society.

The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Abstract: Manuel Castells - one of the world's pre-eminent social scientists - has drawn together a stellar group of contributors to explore the patterns and dynamics of the network society in its cultural and institutional diversity. The book analyzes the technological, cultural and institutional transformation of societies around the world in terms of the critical role of electronic communication networks in business, everyday life, public services, social interaction and politics. The contributors demonstrate that the network society is the new form of social organization in the Information age, replacing the Industrial society. The book analyzes processes of technological transformation in interaction with social culture in different cultural and institutional contexts: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Finland, Russia, China, India, Canada, and Catalonia. The topics examined include business productivity, global financial markets, cultural identity, the uses of the Internet in education and health, the anti-globalization movement, political processes, media and identity, and public policies to guide technological development. Taken together these studies show that the network society adopts very different forms, depending on the cultural and institutional environments in which it evolves. The Network Society is an outstanding and original volume of direct interest in academia - particularly in the fields of social sciences, communication studies, and business schools - as well as for policymakers engaged in technological policy and economic development. Business and management experts will also discover much of value to them within this book.

From media politics to networked politics: the Internet and the political process

Abstract: Never in history has democracy been more pervasive throughout the world. Yet, available evidence points to a growing, widespread crisis of legitimacy of governments, parliaments, political parties, and politicians in most countries, including the United States and Western Europe. 1 Because the Internet is seen as the ultimate technology of freedom, its diffusion among citizens has been hailed as a potential savior for the political ills of representation and participation. At the same time, critics have sounded an alert on the dangers of electronic democracy, not the least being the potential fragmentation of citizenship and the capture of public attention by elites and demagogues. 2 A symbolic manifestation of both utopian and dystopian views is apparent in the work of one of the world's leading political theorists, Benjamin Barber. In 1984, in his pioneering essay Strong Democracy, he foresaw the possibility of using new information and communication technologies to energize citizen information and political participation. Fourteen years later, having observed the actual practice of democracy under the new technological paradigm, Barber himself called attention to the deteriorating quality of public debate and democratic decision making in the biased space of the new media. 3 In principle, both of his arguments are plausible and not contradictory. The Internet can, indeed, be an appropriate platform for informed, interactive politics, stimulating political participation and opening up possible avenues for enlarging decision making beyond the closed doors of political institutions. On the other hand, any technology—and this is particularly true of the Internet—is shaped by its uses and its users.

La ciudad multicultural

Abstract: Frente a la homogeneidad afirmada e impuesta por el Estado a lo largo de la historia, la mayoria de las sociedades civiles se han constituido historicamente a partir de una multiplicidad de etnias y culturas que han resistido generalmente las presiones burocraticas hacia la normalizacion cultural y la limpieza etnica. Incluso en sociedades, como la japonesa o la espanola, etnicamente muy homogeneas, las diferencias culturales regionales (o nacionales, en el caso espanol), marcan territorialmente tradiciones y formas de vida espec ificas, que se reflejan en patrones de comportamiento diversos y, a veces, en tensiones y conflictos interculturales(1). La gestion de dichas tensiones, la construccion de la convivencia en el respeto de la diferencia son algunos de los retos mas importantes que han tenido y tienen todas las sociedades. Y la expresion concentrada de esa diversidad cultural, de las tensiones consiguientes y de la riqueza de posibilidades que tambien encierra la diversidad se da preferentemente en las ciudades, recept aculo y crisol de culturas, que se combinan en la construccion de un proyecto ciudadano comun.