Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Technology, says Castells (U. of Southern California, Los Angeles, and the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona), cannot be considered independently of its social context. For policy makers, business and management experts, and academics in the social sciences, communications studies, and business, he presents 19 contributed articles inquiring into some key themes in various cultural and institutional contexts. They offer theoretical discussion of the network society followed by analysis of processes of technological transformation in Silicon Valley, Finland, Russia, China, and the UK. Subsequent chapters discuss the economy, sociability and social structure, the public interest, social movements and politics, and identity, culture, globalization, the hacker ethic, and a historian's view. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR