The document discusses Manuel Castells' theory of the network society. It defines the network society as one whose social structure is made up of networks powered by information and communication technologies. Key aspects of the network society include inclusion and exclusion from networks, which function by incorporating valuable resources and excluding others. Power and empowerment in the network society depend on control over communication networks. Globalization allows relationships that are less bounded by location, but communication can both empower and disempower depending on whether it is seen as a one-way transmission of information or an active, two-way process of interpretation.
The document discusses Manuel Castells' theory of the network society. It defines the network society as one whose social structure is made up of networks powered by information and communication technologies. Key aspects of the network society include inclusion and exclusion from networks, which function by incorporating valuable resources and excluding others. Power and empowerment in the network society depend on control over communication networks. Globalization allows relationships that are less bounded by location, but communication can both empower and disempower depending on whether it is seen as a one-way transmission of information or an active, two-way process of interpretation.
The document discusses Manuel Castells' theory of the network society. It defines the network society as one whose social structure is made up of networks powered by information and communication technologies. Key aspects of the network society include inclusion and exclusion from networks, which function by incorporating valuable resources and excluding others. Power and empowerment in the network society depend on control over communication networks. Globalization allows relationships that are less bounded by location, but communication can both empower and disempower depending on whether it is seen as a one-way transmission of information or an active, two-way process of interpretation.
The document discusses Manuel Castells' theory of the network society. It defines the network society as one whose social structure is made up of networks powered by information and communication technologies. Key aspects of the network society include inclusion and exclusion from networks, which function by incorporating valuable resources and excluding others. Power and empowerment in the network society depend on control over communication networks. Globalization allows relationships that are less bounded by location, but communication can both empower and disempower depending on whether it is seen as a one-way transmission of information or an active, two-way process of interpretation.
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The Network Society
By Manuel Castell What is network society? • The definition of a network society given by the foremost theorist of the concept, Manuel Castells (2004 p. 3) is that it is 'a society whose social structure is made up of networks powered by micro-electronics-based information and communications technologies. • As Castells shows in his book, historically, there have always been social networks: 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. Add a Slide Title - 2
• The network society can be defined
as a social formation with an infrastructure of social and media networks enabling its prime mode of organization at all levels (individual, group, organizational and societal). Increasingly, these networks link all units or parts of this formation. Social networks represent important groups of constituents in any community health planning initiative. ... In addition, social networks are a means of communication, creating a platform for sharing and discussing potential positions and strategies.
With an high-level understanding of the three principles of social networks —
balance, exchange, and betweenness — we can better understand the complex ways in which information travels through them. Inclusion and exclusion in the network society • A key aspect of the network society concept is that specific societies (whether nation states or local communities) are deeply affected by inclusion in and exclusion from the global networks that structure production, consumption, communication and power. Castells' hypothesis is that exclusion is not just a phenomenon that will be gradually wiped out as technological change embraces everyone on the planet, as in the case that everyone has a mobile phone, for example. He argues that exclusion is a built-in, structural feature of the network society. • In part this is because networks are based on inclusion and exclusion. Networks function on the basis of incorporating people and resources that are valuable to their task and excluding other people, territories and activities that have little or no value for the performance of those tasks (Castells 2004 p. 23). Different networks have different rationales and geographies of exclusion and exclusion - for example, Silicon Valley engineers occupy very different social and territorial spaces from criminal networks. • The most fundamental divides in the network society according to Castells (2004 p. 29) are the division of labor and the poverty trap that we discussed earlier in the context of globalization. He characterizes these as the divide between 'those who are the source of innovation and value to the network society, those who merely carry out instructions, and those who are irrelevant whether as workers (not enough education, living in marginal areas with inadequate infrastructure for participation in global production) or as consumers (too poor to be part of the global market).' Power and empowerment in the network society • In a social structure characterized by exclusion from and inclusion in different kinds of social and communication networks, power is a crucial determinant of social change. Power can be defined as the capacity to impose one's will over another's will. In the concept of the network society, the chief form of power is control or influence over communication.
• This is because connectivity and access to networks are essential to the power of some social groups to impose their values and goals on society-at-large and of others to resist their domination. • In the 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 we are located at any given time - or in other words, by our spatial location. In traditional societies, different social relations, customs, and culture exist in separate spaces and individuals have to conform to most powerful expectations and rules - for example, in families, villages, towns, cities, and nation states. In the globalizing society, these spaces lose their power to constrain individuals: people can communicate without personal contact via the global net of mass media, phone, fax and computers and are less and less linked by a common history and shared face-to-face relationships. At the same time, pre-existing traditions cannot avoid contact with, or being influenced by, distant values and forms of knowledge. How we interpret this change in the social significance of location depends on how we interpret 'communication‘ :
• If communication is seen as a 'one-way' street, rather like a vaccination of new information into passive recipients who absorb novel information and ideas uncritically, then individuals and local communities can be disempowered by the communication of external knowledge and culture. • If communication is seen as a process in which new information is actively interpreted and used selectively by the recipients who take an active role in shaping the meaning of the information, then individuals and local communities can be empowered by the inflow of new ideas. The possibility of developing innovative forms of communication and knowledge sharing is empowering. • This distinction between passive versus empowering communication is a central one for understanding how ICTs are used for development. Many critics of globalization view it as an invasive force for cultural homogenization promoting an inflow of information and knowledge that is becoming more uniform and standardized, due to powerful technological, commercial and cultural influences originating from centers of power and influence defining what constitutes information and knowledge and how it is shared.
• A contrary view of the effects of globalizing electronic communication is that although information and knowledge from major centers of power have an extraordinary level of predominance, communication is a two-way process: inflowing information is not just taken in uncritically; it is subject to local interpretation and innovative applications. • These two ideas are not mutually exclusive: it is not a question of one or the other. 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.
• Empowerment, according to Castells, is strengthened by social media including networking (such
as Facebook) and social movements connected via the internet. He sees social media as evidence of trends within globalization that promote cultural diversity, innovativeness and certain kinds of freedoms. COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY • In this section we saw how communication technologies are given an important role as enablers for building the knowledge and skills seen as critical for progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and that in MDG 8 this perspective draws on a transfer of technology model that emphasizes access to ICTs. At the same time, interpretation of the causes of the division between those who have access to ICTs and those who do not, known as the digital divide, has broadened to include the knowledge, skills and resources to use ICTs effectively. In general, a deep social divide between those who obtain knowledge and skills valued in the global world economy and those who are disadvantaged in this respect is a fundamental feature of globalization and its contribution to the trend towards growing income inequality within and among countries. In the global network society, knowledge and communication are key resources for development. In the next section we look at how different theoretical paradigms define their role in development.
