Theories of the Information Society, Third Edition - Cryptome

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INFORMATION AND THE MARKET 1 1 1 2 1 never was like that, for example, in the nineteenth century, fiction for the working man – when he read anything – was penny dreadful, sensationalised trivia about murder, rape, drink and fallen women (James, 1963; cf. Rose, 2001). Another objection moves us on to a contemporary stage and refuses the presumption that people are duped by an avalanche of advertisements and related imagery. The belief of postmodernist (and other) adherents – whom we encounter in Chapter 9 – is that ordinary people are quite smart enough to see through the artificiality of consumerist images (they know holiday brochures don’t always tell the truth, that drinking beer doesn’t guarantee friends and camaraderie), smart enough indeed to appreciate this imagery for the parodies it often offers, for its irony, its use of camera, colour or whatever (Schudson, 1984). Further, it may be a mistake to think only in terms of either privatised lifestyles or ones which are communally orientated. It is not inevitable that people who retreat into the home are thereby more self-engrossed, more cut off from neighbours and local affairs (Bellah et al., 1985). Indeed, as Peter Saunders (1990) suggests, ‘Emphasis on the importance of home does not necessarily result in withdrawal from collective life outside the home, for it is possible for people to participate fully in both spheres of life’ (p. 283). Finally, the proposition that consumer goods sell only because people have been seduced into ‘false needs’ by clever marketing is, to say the least, contestable. Such a view suggests that imagery takes precedence over the products the advertisers are called upon to promote. However, people do not buy chocolate biscuits because of advertisements, but because they have an appealing taste. Similarly, it has to be said that a good many of the new information technologies are indeed superior products to their predecessors – for the domestic market one need think only of compact disc players, the splendidly convenient iPod, modern sound systems and even television sets, which today are more attractive, provide better quality and are more reliable than anything before. Moreover, it is surely also the case that large numbers of people today buy consumer goods (from perfumes to entertainments) not because they have swallowed the puffery of the advertiser, but because they get genuine pleasure and increased self-esteem from these things. Conclusion 1 These caveats aside, there is a very great deal of value in Critical Theory, something surely evident from the bulk of this chapter. Several of its major emphases seem to me indispensable to an adequate understanding of the significance of information. Herbert Schiller’s work especially, in starting with the real, substantive world rather than with ‘technological possibilities’ or ‘imagined futures’, offers an important understanding of major dimensions of the role and significance of information and allied technologies. He may have overstated his case at times (cf. Tunstall, 2006), but the attention he draws to market criteria and corporate capitalism cannot but convince us of their pivotal role. Furthermore, he has a sharp eye for social inequalities which 159
INFORMATION AND THE MARKET are not set to disappear in the ‘information age’. Quite the contrary, he reveals, locally and globally, how these are key determinants of what kind of information is generated, in what circumstances and to whose benefit. Finally, the identification of ‘consumer capitalism’, however much one might want to qualify the term and particular conditions, is a helpful reminder of just how much the informational realm is dedicated to the pursuit of selling to people who appear to be retreating further into privatised ways of life. 160
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1 INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF SOCIOLOG
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1 Theories of the Information Socie
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1 1 In memory of Frank Neville Webs
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Acknowledgements I have produced th
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INTRODUCTION The starting point for
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INTRODUCTION theories. Some readers
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INTRODUCTION value in a heuristic s
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CHAPTER TWO What is an information
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? tec
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? The
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? lin
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? Age
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? A p
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? dif
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? inf
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? by
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? Wha
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? Dou
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WHAT IS AN INFORMATION SOCIETY? pro
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CHAPTER THREE Post-industrial socie
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY Dissent, th
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY age. Indeed
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY Second, thi
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY industrial-
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY has changed
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY untenable a
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY the same ki
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY sure, the t
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY the importa
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY Furthermore
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY views on in
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY Theoretical
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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY Giddens fee
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CHAPTER FOUR Regulation School theo
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY accelerate
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY assertion
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY people in
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY in 1960, u
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY century: t
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY globalisat
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY Informatio
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY interpenet
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY It will be
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY 1 There is
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY to argue t
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY simultaneo
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY all, the p
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY trends, bu
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY offers the
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY of assembl
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY The argume
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REGULATION SCHOOL THEORY Fourth, a
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CHAPTER FIVE Network society: Manue
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NETWORK SOCIETY elements that conne
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NETWORK SOCIETY which globalisation
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NETWORK SOCIETY industrial and agri
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NETWORK SOCIETY supersession by a n
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INFORMATION, REFLEXIVITY AND SURVEI
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CHAPTER NINE Information and postmo
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY Dadai
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY as th
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY of hi
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY Postm
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY chang
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY and t
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY most
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY Jean
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY been
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY their
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY propa
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY This
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY In th
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY to be
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY dazzl
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY condi
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INFORMATION AND POSTMODERNITY force
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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? It must be
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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? thinkers t
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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? are the pr
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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? there is h
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THE INFORMATION SOCIETY? upshot of
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Notes 3 Post-industrial society 1 B
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NOTES 5 The key organisation in the
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Atkinson, John (1984),
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Blackwell, Trevor and
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Castells, Manuel (1997
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Dutton, William H. (ed
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Giddens, Anthony (1981
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Hays, Constance (2004)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Kellner, Douglas (1989
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Lynd, Robert S. and Ha
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Miles, Ian et al. (199
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Phillips, Melanie (198
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Rule, James B. (1973),
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Secretary of State for
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Tumber, Howard and Web
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Index ability-to-pay principle 147,
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INDEX Coca-Cola 88, 131, 246 Cocker
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INDEX High Wycombe 60 higher educat
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INDEX Microwave Communications Inc.
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INDEX neo-Marxism 7; new world info
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INDEX Washington, DC: March for Job
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