Theories of the information
society - Webster
Class Media technology & society
Information age
Apparently new way of conceiving contemporary society = information age
How to make sense of this?
→ professionalized & caring society vs tightening control over citizens
→ educated public vs overload of sensationalism & propaganda (aka
keeping people stupid)
Two opposite poles
→ how to make sense of the tech = cause of controversy
→ agree on one thing = information changes society
This is going to change society ↔ this is the same as other tech
Webster = important to have theoretical starting point
→ to have nuance & think critically
→ too much ‘practical’ people shape the evolution
One laptop per child everywhere in the world = solution for the worlds
problems
→ idea by practical men
→ children can have education etc
→ this doesn’t work ⇒ no basic access to internet, electricity, digital
knowledge and skills, language
→ technology is just a tool
Social theory + empirical evidence as a starting point instead
→ what is driving the change & what is actually changing?
Information theory as a concept
→ might be misleading, but still has value
→ carries suppositions about what is changing
Theories of the information society - Webster 1
, Information society Informatisation of established relationship
emphasis on newness emphasis on continuity
new society marked by differences from
different society but similar to those before
social structures before
post-industrialism (Daniel Bell & a legion of
neo-Marxism (eg Herbert Schiller)
followers)
postmodernism (Baudrillard, Mark Poster, regulation theory (eg Michel Aglietta, Alain
Paul Virilio) Lipietz)
flexible accumulation & reflexive
flexible specialisation (eg Michael Piore,
modernisation (David Harvey & Anthony
Charles Sable, Larry Hirschhorn)
Giddens)
the public sphere (Jurgen Habermas,
the informational mode of development
Nicholas Graham)
→ people on the side of continuity are the loudest
Definitions
Undeveloped definitions
→ most presume it is not necessary to clarify ⇒ WRONG
Five definitions in literature
→ share a belief that quantitative changes in information = qualitatively new
sort of social system
→ aka there is more information nowadays, so we must live in an
information society
Sixth definition = the character of information has transformed how we
live
→ theoretical info is at the core of our way of life now
→ qualitative in kind
→ not often used, but favoured by Webster (most persuasive argument
out of all)
1. Technological
New technology are one of the most visible indicators of new times
→ similar to books, or fire
Big volume of tech innovation ⇒ reconstitution of the social world
Mighty micro: 1970s-1980s
Theories of the information society - Webster 2
society - Webster
Class Media technology & society
Information age
Apparently new way of conceiving contemporary society = information age
How to make sense of this?
→ professionalized & caring society vs tightening control over citizens
→ educated public vs overload of sensationalism & propaganda (aka
keeping people stupid)
Two opposite poles
→ how to make sense of the tech = cause of controversy
→ agree on one thing = information changes society
This is going to change society ↔ this is the same as other tech
Webster = important to have theoretical starting point
→ to have nuance & think critically
→ too much ‘practical’ people shape the evolution
One laptop per child everywhere in the world = solution for the worlds
problems
→ idea by practical men
→ children can have education etc
→ this doesn’t work ⇒ no basic access to internet, electricity, digital
knowledge and skills, language
→ technology is just a tool
Social theory + empirical evidence as a starting point instead
→ what is driving the change & what is actually changing?
Information theory as a concept
→ might be misleading, but still has value
→ carries suppositions about what is changing
Theories of the information society - Webster 1
, Information society Informatisation of established relationship
emphasis on newness emphasis on continuity
new society marked by differences from
different society but similar to those before
social structures before
post-industrialism (Daniel Bell & a legion of
neo-Marxism (eg Herbert Schiller)
followers)
postmodernism (Baudrillard, Mark Poster, regulation theory (eg Michel Aglietta, Alain
Paul Virilio) Lipietz)
flexible accumulation & reflexive
flexible specialisation (eg Michael Piore,
modernisation (David Harvey & Anthony
Charles Sable, Larry Hirschhorn)
Giddens)
the public sphere (Jurgen Habermas,
the informational mode of development
Nicholas Graham)
→ people on the side of continuity are the loudest
Definitions
Undeveloped definitions
→ most presume it is not necessary to clarify ⇒ WRONG
Five definitions in literature
→ share a belief that quantitative changes in information = qualitatively new
sort of social system
→ aka there is more information nowadays, so we must live in an
information society
Sixth definition = the character of information has transformed how we
live
→ theoretical info is at the core of our way of life now
→ qualitative in kind
→ not often used, but favoured by Webster (most persuasive argument
out of all)
1. Technological
New technology are one of the most visible indicators of new times
→ similar to books, or fire
Big volume of tech innovation ⇒ reconstitution of the social world
Mighty micro: 1970s-1980s
Theories of the information society - Webster 2
