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 20th 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
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