Network Theory
Manuel Castells
Materials for an explorator y theory of the network society1
ABSTRACT
This article aims at proposing some elements for a grounded theor y of the network society. The network society is the social structure characteristic of the
Information Age, as tentatively identi ed by empirical, cross-cultural investigation. It permeates most societies in the world, in various cultural and institutional manifestations, as the industrial society characterized the social structure of both capitalism and statism for most of the twentieth centur y.
Social structures are organized around relationships of production/consumption, power, and experience, whose spatio–temporal con gurations constitute cultures. They are enacted, reproduced, and ultimately transformed by social actors, rooted in the social structure, yet freely engaging in con ictive social practices, with unpredictable outcomes. A fundamental feature of social structure in the Information Age is its reliance on networks as the key feature of social morphology. While networks are old forms of social organization, they are now empowered by new information/communication technologies, so that they become able to cope at the same time with exible decentralization, and with focused decision-making. The article examines the speci c interaction between network morphology and relationships of production/consumption, power, experience, and culture, in the historical making of the emerging social structure at the turn of the Millennium.
KEYWORDS: Information networks; social structure; information age; social theor y; social morphology
INTRODUCTION
The network society is a speci c form of social structure tentatively identied by empirical research as being characteristic of the Information Age.
By social structure I understand the organizational arrangements of humans in relationships of production/consumption, experience, and power, as expressed in meaningful interaction framed by
Materials for an explorator y theory of the network society1
ABSTRACT
This article aims at proposing some elements for a grounded theor y of the network society. The network society is the social structure characteristic of the
Information Age, as tentatively identi ed by empirical, cross-cultural investigation. It permeates most societies in the world, in various cultural and institutional manifestations, as the industrial society characterized the social structure of both capitalism and statism for most of the twentieth centur y.
Social structures are organized around relationships of production/consumption, power, and experience, whose spatio–temporal con gurations constitute cultures. They are enacted, reproduced, and ultimately transformed by social actors, rooted in the social structure, yet freely engaging in con ictive social practices, with unpredictable outcomes. A fundamental feature of social structure in the Information Age is its reliance on networks as the key feature of social morphology. While networks are old forms of social organization, they are now empowered by new information/communication technologies, so that they become able to cope at the same time with exible decentralization, and with focused decision-making. The article examines the speci c interaction between network morphology and relationships of production/consumption, power, experience, and culture, in the historical making of the emerging social structure at the turn of the Millennium.
KEYWORDS: Information networks; social structure; information age; social theor y; social morphology
INTRODUCTION
The network society is a speci c form of social structure tentatively identied by empirical research as being characteristic of the Information Age.
By social structure I understand the organizational arrangements of humans in relationships of production/consumption, experience, and power, as expressed in meaningful interaction framed by
Bibliography: Dutton, William H. 1999 Society on the Line: Information Politics in the Digital Age, Thrift, Nigel J. 1990 ‘The making of capitalism in time consciousness’, in J.