Polyteknisk Boghandel

This book, the first in Castells' ground-breaking trilogy, is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information. Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of the fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world. The global economy is now characterized by the almost instantaneous flow and exchange of information, capital, and cultural communication. These flows order and condition both consumption and production. The networks themselves reflect and create distinctive cultures. Both they and the traffic they carry are largely outside national regulation. Our dependence on the new modes of informational flow gives enormous power to those in a position to control them to control us. The main political arena is now the media, and the media are not politically answerable. Manuel Castells describes the accelerating pace of innovation and social transformation. He examines the processes of globalization that threaten to make redundant whole countries and peoples excluded from informational networks. He investigates the culture, institutions, and organizations of the network enterprise and the concomitant transformation of work and employment. He shows that in the advanced economies production is now concentrated on an educated section of the population aged between 25 and 40. He suggests that the effect of this accelerating trend may not be mass unemployment but the extreme flexibilization of work and individualization of labor, and, in consequence, a highly segmented social structure. This new edition of The Rise of the Network Society has been substantially modified and details the new social and economic developments brought by the Internet and the 'new economy'. The volume has been updated throughout to take account of changes since its original publication.

List of Figures. List of Tables. Acknowledgements
2000. Acknowledgements
1996. Prologue: The Net and The Self. Technology, Society, and Historical Change. Informationalism, Industrialism, Capitalism, Statism: Modes of Development and Modes of Production. Informationalism and Capitalist Perestroyka. The Self in The Informational Society. A Word on Method.
1. The Information Technology Revolution: Which Revolution?Lessons From The Industrial Revolution. The Historical Sequence of The Information Technology Revolution. Micro-Engineering Macro Changes: Electronics and Information. The Creation of The Internet. Network Technologies and Pervasive Computing. The 1970s Technological Divide. Technologies of Life. Social Context and The Dynamics of Technological Change. Models, Actors, and Sites of The Information Technology Revolution. The Information Technology Paradigm.
2. The New Economy: Informationalism, Globalization, Networking: Productivity, Competitiveness, and The Informational Economy. The Productivity Enigma. Is Knowledge-Based Productivity Specific To The Informational Economy?Informationalism and Capitalism, Productivity and Profitability. The Historical Specificity of Informationalism. The Global Economy: Structure, Dynamics, and Genesis. Global Financial Markets. Globalization of markets for Goods and Services: Growth and Transformation of International Trade. Globalization Versus Regionalization. The Internationalization of Production: Multinational Corporations and International Production Networks. Informational Production and Selective Globalization of Science and Technology. Global Labour. The Geometry of the Global Economy: Segments and Networks. The Political Economy of Globalization: Capitalist Restructuring, Information Technology, and State Policies. The New Economy.
3. The Network Enterprise: The Culture, Institutions, and Organizations of The Informational Economy: Organizational Trajectories in The Restructuring of Capitalism and in The Transition From Industrialism to Informationalism. From Mass Production to Flexible Production. Small Business and The Crisis of The Large Corporation: Myth and Reality. Toyotism: Management-Worker Cooperation, Multifunctional Labor, Total Quality Control, and Reduction of Uncertainty. Interfirm Networking. Corporate Strategic Alliances. The Horizontal Corporation and Global Business Networks. The Crisis of The Vertical Corporation Model and The Rise of Business Networks. Networking the Networks: The Cisco Model. Information Technology and The Network Enterprise. Culture, Institutions, and Economic Organization: East Asian Business Networks. A Typology of East Asian Business Networks. Japan. Korea. China. Culture, Organizations and Institutions: Asian Business Networks and The Developmental State. Multinational Enterprises, Transnational Corporations, and International Networks. The Spirit of Informationalism.
4. The Transformation of Work and Employment: Networkers, Jobless, and Flextimers: The Historical Evolution of Employment and Occupational Structure in Advanced Capitalist Countries: The G-7, 1920-2005. Postindustrialism, The Service Economy, and The Informational Society. The Transformation of Employment Structure, 1920-1970 and 1970-1990. The New Occupational Structure. The Maturing of The Informational Society: Employment Projections into The Twenty-First Century. Summing Up: The Evolution of Employment Structure and Its Implications For A Comparative Analysis of The Informational Society. Is There A Global Labor Force?The Work Process in The Informational Paradigm. The Effects of Information Technology On Employment: Toward A Jobless Society?Work and The Informational Divide: Flextimers. Information Technology and The Restructuring of Capital-Labor Relations: Social Dualism Or Fragmented Societies?Appendix A: Statistical Tables For
Chapter
4. Appendix B: Methodological Note and Statistical References.
5. The Culture of Real Virtuality: The Integration of Electronic Communication, The End of The Mass Audience, and The Rise of Inte