Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

NETWORK SOCIETY
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Revolution, are identified by advances in theoretical knowledge with little if any
practical consequence (this is the age of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton
and others whose advances in knowledge of planetary motion, gravitational
force and so forth were enlightening but not utilisable). Bernal’s second epoch
is the Industrial Revolution, stretching from the mid-eighteenth through the
nineteenth centuries, which was characterised by profound practical change,
though the people who pioneered this were, on the whole, rather ignorant of
theoretical knowledge; individuals such as George Stephenson responded to
practical demands to develop technologies such as the railway engine and the
steam engine. The third, and final, epoch is what Bernal terms the Scientific–
Technological Revolution, the period of the twentieth century when theoretical
knowledge becomes tied to practical activities. Examples would range from aerospace
to radar development, textiles to plastics, the key theme being that theoretical
knowledge plays a central role in the production of technologies. Historian
Eric Hobsbawm (1994) confirms this theme in writing that during the twentieth
century ‘the theorists [have been] in the driving seat . . . telling the practitioners
what they were to look for and should find in the light of their theories’ (pp. 534–5).
My point here is not to persuade readers that theoretical knowledge distinguishes
different epochs (though I do think it has much to commend it as a way
of seeing). Rather it is that, in considering an alternative outline of different
epochs, we may query the appropriateness of Castells’s signalling of the ‘information
age’. Theoretical knowledge does not appear in Castells’s scenario, yet a
case can be made for it playing a key role in the contemporary world. Moreover,
what this alternative conceptualisation allows us to do is to appreciate better the
vagueness of Castells’s own definition of information.
Conclusion
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It would be unfortunate to end a discussion of Manuel Castells on a discordant
note. His trilogy is a tour de force, one that deservedly vaulted its author into the
position of leading commentator on the information age. As an analysis of the
direction and dynamics of the contemporary world it is unsurpassed. It is an
extraordinary achievement to produce such an encompassing study that is at
once steeped in empirical evidence and conceptually rich. The Information Age is
also enormously scholarly yet pulsating with passion and engagement with the
world. Above all, it demonstrates how information flows, and the networks which
these use, are central to how we live today. Castells has come to refer to the
‘network society’ as the most accurate conceptualisation of the present epoch,
and it is hard to disagree with his appellation. Nevertheless, there remain difficulties
with Castells’s account, ranging from substantive matters such as his
underestimation of the salience of class inequalities, the relation between continuity
and change in his argument, and ambiguities as to what he understands by
information, to a lingering technological determinism at the heart of his thesis.
No analyst of information nowadays can fail to start with the work of Manuel
Castells. But nor can accounts stop with The Information Age.
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