This essential book documents the current configuration of digital society worldwide and examines its social, economic, political and cultural consequences. Presenting state-of-the-art empirical analysis and academic research, preeminent author Manuel Castells explores the profound impact that technology and digital transformation continues to have on the world as we know it.
This book aims to inform the non-IT specialist about the technological revolution that is taking place and, specifically, how the digital component of it is affecting our lives. It is hoped that this information will fill possible information gaps in readers’ mental model, enabling them to make better-informed decisions. This book can also be used as a textbook in a stand-alone introductory course to the digital revolution and its effects on society. The course could be used in both bachelor and master degree programs in business management, healthcare management, sociology, or any other non-IT programs. Chapter 1. This chapter, although the longest, is a brief review of the interactions between technology, economy, and politics. The subject is a much neglected one, and I believe that understanding of these interactions is vital for understanding the underlying causes of some of our most important pressing issues. The chapter discusses the interactions between technologies, economy, and politics, examining the effect of technologies on economic development and political ideologies. Chapter 2. This chapter deals with technological revolutions in general and the digital revolution in particular. I shall discuss the components of the digital economy. These being: knowledge, digitisation, virtualisation, molecularization, integration/internetworking, disintermediation, convergence, innovation, sharing economy, immediacy, and discordant. In addition, we shall examine the disruptors that are changing the face of competition in the marketplace. Chapter 3. This chapter deals with digital transformation, i.e., the process of using digital technology in all areas of business, changing the way the businesses operate and deliver value to their customers. We shall examine models for dealing with digital transformation. Chapter 4. We shall examine one of the most important developments of the 21st century, namely the advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). We shall look at how the human brain works and what is intelligence. We shall look at the artificial neural networks, machine learning, and deep learning. We shall also look at the deployment of AI in various fields such as healthcare, finance, Natural Language Processing (NPL), news media, and warfare. Chapter 5. This chapter deals with one of the most controversial and yet promising developments in finance and distributed secure databases, namely cryptocurrencies and blockchains. This subject is divided into two parts — the first part deals with the cryptocurrencies, and their viability as currencies. One of the most popular cryptocurrencies, the Bitcoin, will be examined in depth. The second part is somewhat technical and deals with the inner workings of the blockchains. As with cryptocurrencies, many see a bright future for the blockchains, especially in the form of smart contracts. Many believe that blockchains will be of great value in areas such as finance, handling contracts, healthcare and more. Blockchain promises to bring disintermediation to many industries and thereby reduce costs. Chapter 6. Technological revolutions tend to disrupt the lives of many middle-aged and older workers. New technologies give birth to new industries, destroying the old industries in the process. New technologies often require special skills that the old industry workers do not possess. The laid-off workers of the old industries can seldom find jobs in new industries since the new industries often rely on new technologies and skills that the old-industry workers do not possess. These workers need training, something that the prospective employers do not provide. Also, the new technologies, including AI, are automating many tasks, reducing the need for human workers. This chapter discusses the issue of automation and its effect on employment. Additionally, the type of jobs that are in danger of automation is discussed as well. Chapter 7. While chapter six discussed the employment situation, chapter seven considers the type of education required by the new industries. Also, the weaknesses of the existing educational system are considered, and alternative systems are proposed. Chapter 8. History tells us that whenever there has been a technological revolution, it has been accompanied by a shift in power, both nationally and internationally. The global shift of power has seldom been a peaceful affair. It often has resulted in major wars and global reorientation. This chapter discusses the possibility of the global shift of power. Currently, there are not that many countries or entities that can be considered as contenders. Of the three, Russia, European Union, and China, only one, China, is considered to have any chance of wresting power from the United States. The technological, economic and military power of China is compared and contrasted with the United States’.
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This essential book documents the current configuration of digital society worldwide and examines its social, economic, political and cultural consequences. Presenting state-of-the-art empirical analysis and academic research, preeminent author Manuel Castells explores the profound impact that technology and digital transformation continues to have on the world as we know it. Chapters present an in-depth examination of how digitalization affects communication, state surveillance and privacy, financial markets, spatial structure, and education. This Advanced Introduction also deftly outlines digital influence on social movements, exploring social media disinformation, digital inequality, geopolitics and war-making technologies. Ultimately, Castells demonstrates how today's digital society is the socio-technological foundation of the 'network society', the social structure of our time. Key Features: Situates digital transformation within Castells' theory of the 'network society'. Presents complete empirical evidence of the configuration of digital society. Explores the relationship between digital society, data capitalism, state surveillance and privacy. Highlights the implications of artificial intelligence, social media, teleworking and cryptocurrencies This authoritative Advanced Introduction will be a crucial read for students, academics and researchers specializing in sociology, sociological theory, communication, public policy, politics, regulation, education, science and technology studies and business studies. Offering vital analysis of our continually developing digital society, it will also be of interest to global policymakers regulating digital technologies.
Written by Ernst Hirsch Ballin, this original Advanced Introduction uncovers the foundations of legal research methods, an area of legal scholarship distinctly lacking in standardisation. The author shows how such methods differ along critical, empirical, and fundamental lines, and how our understanding of these is crucial to overcoming crises and restoring trust in the law. Key topics include a consideration of law as a normative language and an examination of the common objects of legal research.
Doing research is an ever-changing challenge for social scientists. This challenge is harder than ever today as current societies are changing quickly and in many, sometimes conflicting, directions. Social phenomena, personal interactions, and formal and informal relationships are becoming more borderless and disconnected from the anchors of the offline “reality.” These dynamics are heavily marking our time and are suggesting evolutionary challenges in the ways we know, interpret, and analyze the world. Internet and computer-mediated communication (CMC) is being incorporated into every aspect of daily life, and social life has been deeply penetrated by the internet. This is due to recent technological developments that increase the scope and range of online social spaces and the forms and time of participation such as Web 2.0, which widened the opportunities for user-generated content, the emergence of an “internet of things,” and of ubiquitous mobile devices that make it possible to always be connected. This implies an adjustment to epistemological and methodological stances for conducting social research and an adaption of traditional social research methods to the specificities of online interactions in the digital society. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Research Methodologies for a Digital Society covers the different strands of methods most affected by the change in a digital society and develops a broader theoretical reflection on the future of social research in its challenge to always be fitting, suitable, adaptable, and pertinent to the society to be studied. The chapters are geared towards unlocking the future frontiers and potential for social research in the digital society. They include theoretical, epistemological, and ontological reflections about the digital research methods as well as innovative methods and tools to collect, analyze, and interpret data. This book is ideal for social scientists, practitioners, librarians, researchers, academicians, and students interested in social research methodology and its developments in the digital scenario.
The rise of digital media has been widely regarded as transforming the nature of our social experience in the twenty-first century. The speed with which new forms of connectivity and communication are being incorporated into our everyday lives often gives us little time to stop and consider the social implications of those practices. Nonetheless, it is critically important that we do so, and this sociological introduction to the field of digital technologies is intended to enable a deeper understanding of their prominent role in everyday life. The fundamental theoretical and ethical debates on the sociology of the digital media are presented in accessible summaries, ranging from economy and technology to criminology and sexuality. Key theoretical paradigms are explored through a broad range of contemporary social phenomena – from social networking and virtual lives to the rise of cybercrime and identity theft, from the utopian ideals of virtual democracy to the Orwellian nightmare of the surveillance society, from the free software movement to the implications of online shopping. As an entry-level pathway for students in sociology, media, communications and cultural studies, the aim of this work is to situate the rise of digital media within the context of a complex and rapidly changing world.
Artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users. These companies are largely self-regulating in Western countries. How do economic theories explain the rise of a very few dominant platforms? Mansell and Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy explanations. They show how these perspectives can lead to contrasting claims about platform benefits and harms. Uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are treated differently in these economic traditions. Sometimes leading to advocacy for regulation or for public provision of digital services. Sometimes indicating restraint and precaution. The authors challenge the reader to think beyond the inevitability of platform dominance to create new visions of how platforms might operate in the future.
This book provides an understanding of the evolution of digitization in our day to day life and how it has become a part of our social system. The obvious challenges faced during this process and how these challenges were overcome have been discussed. The discussions revolve around the solutions to these challenges by leveraging the use of various advanced technologies. The book mainly covers the use of these technologies in variety of areas such as smart cities, healthcare informatics, transportation automation, digital transformation of education. The book intends to be treated as a source to provide the systematic discussion to the bouquet of areas that are essential part of digitized societies. In light of this, the book accommodates theoretical, methodological, well-established, and validated empirical work dealing with various related topics.
Presenting a concise, yet wide-ranging and contemporary overview of the field, this Advanced Introduction to Privacy Law focuses on how we arrived at our privacy laws, and how the law can deal with new and emerging challenges from digital technologies, social networks and public health crises. This illuminating and interdisciplinary book demonstrates how the history of privacy law has been one of constant adaptation to emerging challenges, illustrating the primacy of the right to privacy amidst a changing social and cultural landscape.
Woodrow Barfield and Ugo Pagallo present a succinct introduction to the legal issues related to the design and use of artificial intelligence (AI). Exploring human rights, constitutional law, data protection, criminal law, tort law, and intellectual property law, they consider the laws of a number of jurisdictions including the US, the European Union, Japan, and China, making reference to case law and statutes.
