Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY
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• The process of globalisation, in its diverse aspects, continued and accelerated,
making it untenable for corporations to continue as before and presented them
with challenges and opportunities that had to be met.
• Throughout the period transnational corporations expanded in size, scope and
reach, in ways without historical precedent, that made them the major players
in the global economy.
Combined, these developments precipitated major changes in capitalist activity,
not least an acceleration of change itself, something which encouraged more
flexible strategies of production, marketing and, to some degree at least, consumption.
And absolutely axial to these developments, and to the handling of
change itself, was information, from the level of the factory and office floor to
worldwide corporate operations.
Information may not have brought about these changes, but today it indisputably
plays a more integral role in the maintenance and adaptability of
capitalist interests and activities. By way of a conclusion, let us signal some
of the crucial ways in which information contributes:
• Information flows are a requisite of a globalised economy, particularly those
financial and service networks which tie together and support dispersed
activities.
• Information is central to the management and control of transnational corporations,
both within and without their organisations.
• Information is crucial to the emerging phenomenon of global localism (otherwise
known as glocalisation), whereby international and local issues and
interests are connected and managed.
• Information now plays a more integral part in work practices, at once because
computerisation has pervasive effects and also because there has been a
noticeable increase in the information intensity of many occupations. The
organising, planning and implementation of much activity nowadays requires
specialists in information, Reich’s ‘symbolic analysts’, and in turn their actions
have major consequences for everyone else.
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