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Untitled - socium.ge

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34 Manuel Castellssources of social structuration and social chan<strong>ge</strong>. Switchers are not persons,but they are made up of persons. They are actors, but made up of networks ofactors, engaging in dynamic interfaces that are specifically operated in eachparticular process of connection. Programmers and switchers are those actorsand networks of actors that, because of their position in the social structure,exercise power in the network society.Power and Counter-power in the Network SocietyProcesses of power-making must be seen from two perspectives: on the onehand, seizing and/or enforcing power; on the other hand, resisting power, onbehalf of interests, values, and projects that are excluded or under-representedin the programs of the networks. Analytically, both processes ultimatelyconfigure power structures through their interaction. But they are distinct.They do, however, operate on the same logic. This means that resistance topower is effected through the same two mechanisms that constitute power inthe network society: the programs of the networks, and the switches betweennetworks. Thus, the collective action of social movements, in their differentforms, aims to introduce new instructions and new codes into the networks’programs. For instance, new instructions in the global financial networksmean that under conditions of extreme poverty debt should be condoned forsome countries, as demanded, and partially obtained, by the JubileeMovement. Another example of a new code in the global financial networks isthe project of evaluating company stocks according to the company’s environmentalethics in the hope that this will ultimately impact on the attitude ofinvestors and shareholders vis-à-vis companies deemed to be bad citizens ofthe planet. Under these conditions, the code of economic calculation shiftsfrom growth potential to sustainable growth potential.More radical reprogramming comes from resistance movements aimed ataltering the fundamental principle of a network – or the kernel of the programcode, to maintain the parallel with software langua<strong>ge</strong>. For instance, if God’swill must prevail under all conditions (as stated by Christian fundamentalists),the institutional networks that constitute the legal and judicial systems must bereprogrammed, not to follow the political constitution, legal prescriptions, orgovernment decisions (for example, in letting women decide about their ownbodies and pregnancies), but to submit them to the interpretation of God’s willby his earthly bishops. In another example, when the movement for globaljustice claims that trade agreements mana<strong>ge</strong>d by the World Trade Organizationshould be re-written to include environmental conservation, social rights, andrespect for indi<strong>ge</strong>nous minorities, it is acting to modify the programs underwhich the networks of the global economy work.The second mechanism of resistance consists in blocking the switches of

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