Gerald Sussman offers a detailed critical analysis of the political dimensions of 21st century communication/information technologies, mass media and transnational networks.
This updated edition describes the high technology equipment that is leading the revolution in communication; shows how the information age will supplant the age of industrialization; and outlines the economic and social opportunities, as well as the pitfalls, that are inherent in this revolution.
Are the new technologies of the information age reshaping the labor force, transforming communications, changing the potential of democracy, and altering the course of history itself? Capitalism and the Information Age presents a rigorous examination of some of the most crucial problems and possibilities of these novel technologies. Not a day goes by that we don't see a news clip, hear a radio report, or read an article heralding the miraculous new technologies of the information age. The communication revolution associated with these technologies is often heralded as the key to a new age of "globalization." How is all of this reshaping the labor force, transforming communications, changing the potential of democracy, and altering the course of history itself? Capitalism and the Information Age presents a rigorous examination of some of the most crucial problems and possibilities of these novel technologies.
This book is intended for researchers, academics, analysts, and practitioners with an interest in the development of information and communication technologies.
The development of technology and the hunger for information has caused a wave of change in daily life in America. Nearly every American's environment now consists of cable television, video cassette players, answering machines, fax machines, and personal computers. Schement and Curtis argue that the information age has evolved gradually throughout the twentieth century. National focus on the production and distribution of information stems directly from the organizing principles and realities of the market system, not from a revolution sparked by the invention of the computer. Now available in paperback, Tendencies and Tensions of the Information Age, brings together findings from many disciplines, including classical studies, etymology, political sociology, and macroeconomics. This valuable resource will be enjoyed by sociologists, historians, and scholars of communication and information studies.
Political communication has fundamentally transformed as digital technologies have become increasingly important in everyday life. Technology platforms have become powerful political instruments for world leaders, campaigns, social movements, journalists, and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, they are essential to how people communicate about politics, encounter and share political information, and take action to pursue their political goals. This is the first textbook to center digital platforms in understanding political communication. With global examples beyond the context of Western democracies, the text reveals how digital technologies such as social media and search engines are increasingly shaping political communication in countries around the world. It shows how the core processes of political communication are being reshaped by platforms, from how elections are contested to how issues make it onto policymaking agendas. Topics covered include public opinion, journalism, strategic communication, political parties, social movements, governance, disinformation, propaganda, populism, race, ethnicity, and democratic backsliding. Full of lively examples and pedagogical features, Platforms, Power, and Politics offers an exciting and innovative new approach to political communication. It is essential reading for students of political communication and an important resource for scholars, journalists, and policymakers.
Provides a critical assessment of the significance of the so-called information age to contemporary government, taking into account various perspectives on the relationship between information technology and social change in the context of British governance. In particular, the volume assesses current debates on the New Public Management, the reinvention of government, the new public consumerism and "electronic democracy" in light of these perspectives. It also evaluates policy stances towards the "information superhighway" and the likely effects on future public services. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
By outlining a social theory of the internet and the information society, this book demonstrates how the ecological, economic, political and cultural systems of contemporary society have been transformed by new information and communication technologies.
LIVING IN THE INFORMATION AGE traces the development, surveys the literature, and explores the impact of new technologies on the media landscape, examining both conceptual and practical aspects of life in an information society. The 64 articles comprising this reader examine the utopian promises of technology's true believers, and the dystopian views of technology's critics, all the while exploring how the media industries are being transformed through digital convergence and corporate concentration
This book assesses the consequences of new information technologies for American democracy in a way that is theoretical and also historically grounded. The author argues that new technologies have produced the fourth in a series of 'information revolutions' in the US, stretching back to the founding. Each of these, he argues, led to important structural changes in politics. After re-interpreting historical American political development from the perspective of evolving characteristics of information and political communications, the author evaluates effects of the Internet and related new media. The analysis shows that the use of new technologies is contributing to 'post-bureaucratic' political organization and fundamental changes in the structure of political interests. The author's conclusions tie together scholarship on parties, interest groups, bureaucracy, collective action, and political behavior with new theory and evidence about politics in the information age.