Theories of the Information Society (The International Library of Sociology), 2nd Edition

313 Pages·2002·1.33 MB·English

by  Profess Webster

Theories of the Information Society
Second edition
‘Webster has written the best introduction to the information society yet.
Awelcomecritiqueofinformationalpower,thisbookdemystifiesinforma-
tiontechnology,itsapplicationsandenchantments.Inajudiciousappraisal
of the most influential information society theorists in the West, Webster
convincingly argues against the proposition that society has been funda-
mentally transformed by an information revolution. This is an excellent
teaching text that undergraduates and graduates alike will find accessibly
written, instructive, and enormously challenging.’
Richard Maxwell, Associate Professor of Media Studies,
Queens College – City University of New York
Popular opinion suggests that information has become a distinguishing feature
of the modern world. Where once economies were built on industry and con-
quest, we are now instead said to be part of a global information economy. In
the first edition of Theories of the Information Society Frank Webster set out to
makesenseoftheinformationexplosion,takingascepticallookatwhatthink-
ers mean when they refer to the information society, and critically examining
all the major post-war theories and approaches to informational development.
In this new and thoroughly revised edition the author brings his study right up
to date both with new theoretical work and with social and technological
changes–suchastherapidgrowthoftheInternetandacceleratedglobalisation
– and reassesses the work of key theorists in light of these changes.
Thisbookwillbeessentialreadingforstudentsofcontemporarysocialtheory
and anybody interestedin social and technologicalchange in the post-war era.
Frank Webster is Professor of Sociology and Head of Department, Cultural
Studies and Sociology, at the University of Birmingham.
INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF SOCIOLOGY
Founded by Karl Mannheim
Editor: John Urry
University of Lancaster
Theories of the
Information Society
Second edition
Frank Webster
London and New York
Firstpublished2002
byRoutledge
11NewFetterLane,LondonEC4P4EE
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
29West35thStreet,NewYork,NY10001
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
#2002FrankWebster
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor
reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,
mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafter
invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
writingfromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailable
fromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Webster,Frank.
Theoriesoftheinformationsociety/FrankWebster–2nded.
p.cm.–(Theinternationallibraryofsociology)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Communication–Socialaspects.2.Communication–Technologicalinnovations.3.
Informationsociety.4.Informationtechnology.5.Informationpolicy.I.Title.II.Series.
HM1206W432002
302.2–dc21
2001048947
ISBN0–415–28200–4(hbk)
ISBN0–415–28201–2(pbk)
ISBN 0-203-42626-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-73450-5 (Glassbook Format)
In memory of Frank Neville Webster
20 June 1920–15 July 1993

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction 1
2 The idea of an information society 8
3 The information society as post-industrialism:
Daniel Bell 30
4 Information, restructuring and globalisation 59
5 Informational capitalism: Manuel Castells 97
6 Information and advanced capitalism: Herbert Schiller 124
7 Information management and manipulation:
Ju¨rgen Habermas and the concept of the public sphere 161
8 Information, reflexivity and surveillance: Anthony
Giddens 202
9 Information, postmodernism and postmodernity 227
10 Conclusion: is there an information society? 263
Bibliography 274
Index 299
Acknowledgements
Ithasbeengratifyingtolearnthatthefirsteditionofthisbookdidwellenough
for Routledge to ask me to prepare a new edition. Thanks to Mari Shullaw at
Routledge for the invitation and the necessary support and nagging to get the
new edition done.
Iwouldliketothankagain mywife,LizChapman,ourchildrenFrankieand
Isabelle,andmylong-timefriendandcollaborator,KevinRobins.Whateverthe
informationsocietymaybringitwillnevermatchthesatisfactionsoffamilyand
friends.
1 Introduction
It seems to me that most people ask themselves, at one time or another, what
sort of society is it in which we live? How can we make sense of what is going
on with our world? And where is it all taking us? This is a daunting and
frequently bewildering task because it involves trying to identify the major
contours of extraordinarily complex and changeable circumstances. Some
people quickly give up on the task, frankly admitting confusion. Still others,
encountering disputation, retreat into the comforting (and lazy) belief that
we see only what we choose. Fortunately, most people stick with trying to
understand what is happening in the world, and in so doing reach for such
terms as capitalism, industrialism, totalitarianism and liberal democracy.
Most of us will have heard these sorts of words, will have voiced them
ourselves, when trying to account for events and upheavals, for important
historical occurrences, or even for the general drift of social, economic and
political change.
In all probability we will have argued with others about the appropriateness
of these labels when applied to particular circumstances. We will even have
debated just what the terms might mean. For instance, while it can be agreed
that Russia has moved well away from Communism, there will be less agree-
ment that the transition can be accurately described as a shift to a fully capi-
talist society. There is a constant need to qualify the generalising terminology:
hencepre-industrial,emergingdemocracies,advancedcapitalism,authoritarian
populism.
Andyet,despitethesenecessaryrefinements,fewofuswillfeelabletorefuse
these concepts or indeed others like them. The obvious reason is that, big and
crude and subject to amendment and misunderstanding though they be, these
concepts and others like them do give us a means to identify and begin to
understand essential elements of the world in which we live and from which
wehaveemerged.Itseemsinescapablethat,impelledtomakesenseofthemost
consequential features of different societies and circumstances, we are driven
towards the adoption of grand concepts.
Thestartingpointforthisbookistheemergenceofanapparentlynewwayof
conceiving contemporary societies. Commentators have increasingly begun to
talkabout‘information’asadistinguishingfeatureofthemodernworld.Weare