`
SUMMARY THEORIES ON MEDIA,
TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
JULIE DE COCK
2019-2020
Prof. Leo Van Audenhove
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
1. INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 VIDEO ERICSSON 5
1.1.1 RELATION TECH AND SOCIETY? 5
1.1.2 THE GUTENBERG GALAXY (1960) 5
1.2 THEORIES ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 5
2. THEORIES ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY – FRAMEWORK
(WEBSTER) 6
2.1 INTRODUCTION 6
2.1.1 TWO ARGUMENTATIONS IN THEORY 7
2.2 CHAPTER 2 8
2.2.1 WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? 8
2.2.2 CATEGORISATION 8
2.2.2.1 Technology 9
2.2.2.2 Economic 10
2.2.2.3 Occupation 10
2.2.2.4 Spatial 11
2.2.2.5 Cultural 11
2.3 CHAPTER 3: QUALITY 12
2.3.1 DISCUSSION ABOUT THE ROLE OF IDEAS 12
2.3.2 WHAT IS INFORMATION? 12
2.3.3 INFORMATION QUALITY 12
2.3.4 THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE 13
3. HISTORY AND EARLY APPROACHES (INNIS & MCLUHAN) 13
3.1 HAROLD INNIS 13
3.1.1 INTRODUCTION 13
3.1.2 HISTORY AND COMMUNICATION 13
3.2 MCLUHAN 15
3.2.1 INTRODUCTION 15
3.2.2 THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE 15
3.2.3 THE GLOBAL VILLAGE 17
4. INFORMATION ECONOMY & POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (DANIEL
BELL) 17
4.1 INTRODUCTION 17
4.1.1 NEO-EVOLUTIONISM 19
4.1.2 SEPARATE REALMS 19
4.2 POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (PIS) 20
4.2.1 ROLE OF INFORMATION 22
2
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
4.2.2 COMMUNAL SOCIETY 22
4.2.3 INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATISM 23
4.2.4 A CRITIQUE ON PIS 23
4.2.5 SERVICES AND MANUFACTURE 24
5. INNOVATION, TECHNO-ECONOMIC PARADIGM, KNOWLEDGE
SOCIETY (CARLOTTA PEREZ) 25
5.1 INTRODUCTION 25
5.2 SCHUMPETER 25
5.2.1 INNOVATION - INVENTION 26
5.2.2 NEW TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS 28
5.2.3 TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS 29
5.2.3.1 5 meta-systems 30
5.2.4 TECHNO-ECONOMIC PARADIGM 31
5.2.5 RESISTANCE AND ASSIMILATION 31
6. NETWORK SOCIETY (CASTELLS) 32
6.1 NETWORK SOCIETY 32
6.1.1 INFORMATION FLOWS 33
6.1.2 NETWORKS IN ORGANISATION 33
6.1.3 NETWORK SOCIETY, NOT INFORMATION SOCIETY 34
6.1.4 INFORMATIONALISM: THE TECHNOLOGICAL PARADIGM OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY 35
6.1.5 3 THINGS OF TECH 35
6.1.5.1 Self-expanding 35
6.1.5.2 Recombination 36
6.1.5.3 Flexibility 36
6.1.6 RISE OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY 36
6.1.7 A GLOBAL SOCIETY 37
6.1.8 VALUE IN THE NETWORK SOCIETY 38
6.2 WORK, LABOUR AND CLASS 38
6.3 SPACE OF FLOWS 40
6.4 TIME 41
7. 4IR (SWAB) 42
7.1 GENERAL REMARKS 42
7.2 CHAPTER 1 43
7.3 CHAPTER 2: BUSINESS 44
7.4 CHAPTER 3: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL 44
7.5 CHAPTER 4: SOCIETY & INDIVIDUAL 45
8. IMMEDIACY & SPEED (TOMLINSON & WAJCMAN) 46
8.1 TOMLINSON 46
8.1.1 IMMEDIACY 46
8.1.2 GOAL OF BOOK 46
8.1.3 LIQUID MODERNITY 47
3
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
8.1.4 SPEED WITHOUT PROGRESS - ARRIVAL WITHOUT DEPARTURE 47
8.1.5 DELIVERY 48
8.1.6 CONSUMERISM 48
8.1.7 MARKET FOR CONVENIENCE 49
8.1.8 IMPATIENT AND IMMODERATE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES 49
8.1.9 TECHOLOGIES OF SPENDING 50
8.1.10 FOCUS ON DELIVERY 50
8.1.11 CRITIQUE ON DELIVERY 50
8.2 WAJCMAN 51
8.2.1 TOOLS FOR TIME 51
8.2.2 TIME-PRESSURE PARADOX 51
8.2.3 FINDING TIME 52
8.2.4 WORK LIFE ARTICULATION 52
9. DATA COLONIALISM (COULDRY & MEJIAS) 53
9.1 INTRODUCTION 53
9.1.1 DEFINITIONS 54
9.1.2 CLOUD EMPIRE 55
9.1.3 INTRODUCTION (CONTINUATION) 56
9.2 WHAT IS DATA COLONIALISM 56
9.3 HUMAN FREEDOM 57
9.4 CHINA 57
9.5 DATA-DRIVEN LOGISTICS 58
9.6 ORDER THE SOCIAL WORLD 58
10. SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM (ZUBOFF) 58
10.1 STARTING FROM 'BIG DATA' 58
10.2 IMMEDIACY 59
10.3 COMPUTER MEDIATION 59
10.4 DIVISION OF LEARNING 59
10.4.1 DATA EXTRACTION & ANALYSIS 60
10.4.2 MONITORING AND CONTRACT 61
4
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
1. Introduction
1.1 Video Ericsson
- Ericsson = company
Ø Mobile phones, telecommunication infrastructure (4G/5G), ...
Ø Competitor: Huawei
Ø Video = biased (wants to sell/explain importance of upcoming tech)
- Different stages of evolution of the internet
- Smart cities
- Connected society
- Network society
1.1.1 Relation tech and society?
- Very important question in course
- Causal relationship?
- Fundamentally new society?
Ø New types of society, based on tech?
- Current debates
Ø AI
Ø Robotics
Ø Smart Cities
Ø Algorithms
Ø Privacy
Ø Big Data
Ø ...
1.1.2 The Gutenberg Galaxy (1960)
- Electronic media (radio, telephone, television)
- Global village (McLuhan)
Ø Homogenisation of world (we all experience the same events at the same time
through the same electronic media)
- Book =
Ø Private experience = read alone
Ø Now has competition (new media)
Ø Linear (you read from beginning to end)
1.2 Theories on the Information Society
- Theories on information society
Ø 1st theories on information society 1950s and 1960s
Ø Based on observations of growing amount of information
Ø Based on observations of growing workforce using information
- Theories relation technology - social change
Ø Much earlier - going back to industrialisation
5
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
Ø We start out course with work of Innis (1940s)
- Modern theories on information society
Ø 1973: The coming of Post-Industrial Society (Daniel Bell)
Ø Since 1990s: rise of ICT and the internet
Ø Theories become mainstream
- Many of current discussion of media & tech
Ø Framed within conceptualisations of information society
Ø Build on insights which were formulated earlier
Ø Even if theories themselves do not refer to information society
- Focus of course
Ø Different strands of thinking media, technology and society
Ø Genealogy of the field
Ø Critical engagement with the field
Ø Recent theories and discussions related to information society
Network society
Speed
Surveillance society
Data colonialism
...
2. Theories on the information society – Framework (Webster)
2.1 Introduction
- Webster
Ø Sociologist
Ø Born in 1950
Ø Worked at universities in UK
Ø Gets interesting when he starts categorizing
- The starting point for this book is the emergence of an apparently new way of conceiving
contemporary societies. Commentators increasingly began to talk about 'information' as
a distinguishing feature of the modern world fourty years or so ago. This prioritisation of
information has maintained its hold now for several decades and there is little sign of it
losing its grip on the imagination. We are told that we are entering an information age,
that a new 'mode of information’ predominates, that ours is now an 'e-society', that we
must come to terms with a 'weightless economy' driven by information, that we have
moved into a 'global information economy'.
- Ladder of information
Ø There are different types of information/data
6
SUMMARY THEORIES ON MEDIA,
TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY
JULIE DE COCK
2019-2020
Prof. Leo Van Audenhove
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
1. INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 VIDEO ERICSSON 5
1.1.1 RELATION TECH AND SOCIETY? 5
1.1.2 THE GUTENBERG GALAXY (1960) 5
1.2 THEORIES ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 5
2. THEORIES ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY – FRAMEWORK
(WEBSTER) 6
2.1 INTRODUCTION 6
2.1.1 TWO ARGUMENTATIONS IN THEORY 7
2.2 CHAPTER 2 8
2.2.1 WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? 8
2.2.2 CATEGORISATION 8
2.2.2.1 Technology 9
2.2.2.2 Economic 10
2.2.2.3 Occupation 10
2.2.2.4 Spatial 11
2.2.2.5 Cultural 11
2.3 CHAPTER 3: QUALITY 12
2.3.1 DISCUSSION ABOUT THE ROLE OF IDEAS 12
2.3.2 WHAT IS INFORMATION? 12
2.3.3 INFORMATION QUALITY 12
2.3.4 THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE 13
3. HISTORY AND EARLY APPROACHES (INNIS & MCLUHAN) 13
3.1 HAROLD INNIS 13
3.1.1 INTRODUCTION 13
3.1.2 HISTORY AND COMMUNICATION 13
3.2 MCLUHAN 15
3.2.1 INTRODUCTION 15
3.2.2 THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE 15
3.2.3 THE GLOBAL VILLAGE 17
4. INFORMATION ECONOMY & POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (DANIEL
BELL) 17
4.1 INTRODUCTION 17
4.1.1 NEO-EVOLUTIONISM 19
4.1.2 SEPARATE REALMS 19
4.2 POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (PIS) 20
4.2.1 ROLE OF INFORMATION 22
2
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
4.2.2 COMMUNAL SOCIETY 22
4.2.3 INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATISM 23
4.2.4 A CRITIQUE ON PIS 23
4.2.5 SERVICES AND MANUFACTURE 24
5. INNOVATION, TECHNO-ECONOMIC PARADIGM, KNOWLEDGE
SOCIETY (CARLOTTA PEREZ) 25
5.1 INTRODUCTION 25
5.2 SCHUMPETER 25
5.2.1 INNOVATION - INVENTION 26
5.2.2 NEW TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS 28
5.2.3 TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS 29
5.2.3.1 5 meta-systems 30
5.2.4 TECHNO-ECONOMIC PARADIGM 31
5.2.5 RESISTANCE AND ASSIMILATION 31
6. NETWORK SOCIETY (CASTELLS) 32
6.1 NETWORK SOCIETY 32
6.1.1 INFORMATION FLOWS 33
6.1.2 NETWORKS IN ORGANISATION 33
6.1.3 NETWORK SOCIETY, NOT INFORMATION SOCIETY 34
6.1.4 INFORMATIONALISM: THE TECHNOLOGICAL PARADIGM OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY 35
6.1.5 3 THINGS OF TECH 35
6.1.5.1 Self-expanding 35
6.1.5.2 Recombination 36
6.1.5.3 Flexibility 36
6.1.6 RISE OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY 36
6.1.7 A GLOBAL SOCIETY 37
6.1.8 VALUE IN THE NETWORK SOCIETY 38
6.2 WORK, LABOUR AND CLASS 38
6.3 SPACE OF FLOWS 40
6.4 TIME 41
7. 4IR (SWAB) 42
7.1 GENERAL REMARKS 42
7.2 CHAPTER 1 43
7.3 CHAPTER 2: BUSINESS 44
7.4 CHAPTER 3: NATIONAL AND GLOBAL 44
7.5 CHAPTER 4: SOCIETY & INDIVIDUAL 45
8. IMMEDIACY & SPEED (TOMLINSON & WAJCMAN) 46
8.1 TOMLINSON 46
8.1.1 IMMEDIACY 46
8.1.2 GOAL OF BOOK 46
8.1.3 LIQUID MODERNITY 47
3
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
8.1.4 SPEED WITHOUT PROGRESS - ARRIVAL WITHOUT DEPARTURE 47
8.1.5 DELIVERY 48
8.1.6 CONSUMERISM 48
8.1.7 MARKET FOR CONVENIENCE 49
8.1.8 IMPATIENT AND IMMODERATE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES 49
8.1.9 TECHOLOGIES OF SPENDING 50
8.1.10 FOCUS ON DELIVERY 50
8.1.11 CRITIQUE ON DELIVERY 50
8.2 WAJCMAN 51
8.2.1 TOOLS FOR TIME 51
8.2.2 TIME-PRESSURE PARADOX 51
8.2.3 FINDING TIME 52
8.2.4 WORK LIFE ARTICULATION 52
9. DATA COLONIALISM (COULDRY & MEJIAS) 53
9.1 INTRODUCTION 53
9.1.1 DEFINITIONS 54
9.1.2 CLOUD EMPIRE 55
9.1.3 INTRODUCTION (CONTINUATION) 56
9.2 WHAT IS DATA COLONIALISM 56
9.3 HUMAN FREEDOM 57
9.4 CHINA 57
9.5 DATA-DRIVEN LOGISTICS 58
9.6 ORDER THE SOCIAL WORLD 58
10. SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM (ZUBOFF) 58
10.1 STARTING FROM 'BIG DATA' 58
10.2 IMMEDIACY 59
10.3 COMPUTER MEDIATION 59
10.4 DIVISION OF LEARNING 59
10.4.1 DATA EXTRACTION & ANALYSIS 60
10.4.2 MONITORING AND CONTRACT 61
4
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
1. Introduction
1.1 Video Ericsson
- Ericsson = company
Ø Mobile phones, telecommunication infrastructure (4G/5G), ...
Ø Competitor: Huawei
Ø Video = biased (wants to sell/explain importance of upcoming tech)
- Different stages of evolution of the internet
- Smart cities
- Connected society
- Network society
1.1.1 Relation tech and society?
- Very important question in course
- Causal relationship?
- Fundamentally new society?
Ø New types of society, based on tech?
- Current debates
Ø AI
Ø Robotics
Ø Smart Cities
Ø Algorithms
Ø Privacy
Ø Big Data
Ø ...
1.1.2 The Gutenberg Galaxy (1960)
- Electronic media (radio, telephone, television)
- Global village (McLuhan)
Ø Homogenisation of world (we all experience the same events at the same time
through the same electronic media)
- Book =
Ø Private experience = read alone
Ø Now has competition (new media)
Ø Linear (you read from beginning to end)
1.2 Theories on the Information Society
- Theories on information society
Ø 1st theories on information society 1950s and 1960s
Ø Based on observations of growing amount of information
Ø Based on observations of growing workforce using information
- Theories relation technology - social change
Ø Much earlier - going back to industrialisation
5
, Julie Sofie J De Cock
Ø We start out course with work of Innis (1940s)
- Modern theories on information society
Ø 1973: The coming of Post-Industrial Society (Daniel Bell)
Ø Since 1990s: rise of ICT and the internet
Ø Theories become mainstream
- Many of current discussion of media & tech
Ø Framed within conceptualisations of information society
Ø Build on insights which were formulated earlier
Ø Even if theories themselves do not refer to information society
- Focus of course
Ø Different strands of thinking media, technology and society
Ø Genealogy of the field
Ø Critical engagement with the field
Ø Recent theories and discussions related to information society
Network society
Speed
Surveillance society
Data colonialism
...
2. Theories on the information society – Framework (Webster)
2.1 Introduction
- Webster
Ø Sociologist
Ø Born in 1950
Ø Worked at universities in UK
Ø Gets interesting when he starts categorizing
- The starting point for this book is the emergence of an apparently new way of conceiving
contemporary societies. Commentators increasingly began to talk about 'information' as
a distinguishing feature of the modern world fourty years or so ago. This prioritisation of
information has maintained its hold now for several decades and there is little sign of it
losing its grip on the imagination. We are told that we are entering an information age,
that a new 'mode of information’ predominates, that ours is now an 'e-society', that we
must come to terms with a 'weightless economy' driven by information, that we have
moved into a 'global information economy'.
- Ladder of information
Ø There are different types of information/data
6
