Network Society

NETWORK SOCIETY

Network society is the expression coined in 1981 related to the social, political, economic and cultural changes caused by the spread of networked, digital information and communications technologies. The concept of the network society is closely associated with interpretation of the social implications of globalization and the role of electronic communications technologies in society. According to Emmanuel Castells defifines network society is that society whose social structure is made up of networks powered by micro-electronics-based information and communications technologies. Castells said that the key factor that distinguishes the network society is that the use of ICTs helps to create and sustain far-flung networks in which new kinds of social relationships are created.

According to Castells, three processes led to the emergence of this new social structure in the late 20^th century:

·         The restructuring of industrial economies to accommodate an open market approach.

·         The freedom-oriented cultural movements of the late 1970s, including the civil rights movement, the feminist movement.

·         The revolution in information and communication technologies.

The significance of economic restructuring is that it created the conditions for the emergence of the open market development paradigm, weakening the nation state and deepening processes of social inclusion and exclusion between and within countries. Also the cultural movements were significant because they created the conditions for emergence of an opposing human –capabilities centered development paradigm that focuses on human rights. The values of individual autonomy and freedom espoused by this cultural change shaped the open network structure for communication.

Castells claims that the society is passing from industrial age into information age. This historical change is brought about by the advent of new information technologies particularly those for communication and biological technologies. Society remains capitalist, but basis of the technological means by which it acts has changed from energy to information. Communications technologies allow for rapid and asynchronous communication also changes the relationship to time, this is because communication technologies such as the internet, allow for decentralization of operations and focusing of control, increasing the effectiveness of networks relative to hierarchical structures.

The chief form of power in network society is control or influence over communication; this is because connectivity and access to networks are essential to the power off some social groups to impose their values and goals on society at large and of others to resist their domination. In network society, one of the most important impacts of globalization is the way it enables us to create economic, social and political relationships that are less and less bounded by where it is located at any given time. Also one of the most important forces for change and development in the network society is the tension between the efforts of some networks to impose their values and goals and the efforts of others to resist their domination.

BY: KIYABO NELLY

BAPRM-42587