Abstract
It is commonplace to observe that‘ the information revolution’ is having profound effects on all aspects of advanced industrial life. It is widely accepted (albeit not uncritically)2 that after ‘the end of history’ (Fukuyama, 1992) we have now reached an era in which tangible products are being supplanted by information goods and services — from music and movies to software and stock quotes. (Shapiro and Vrian, 1998) Institutions, individuals and governments are being forced to deal with the changing nature of work, learning, and trade, as well as with their own changing expectations. Competition and careers, culture and public policies are all apparently up for a major re-think. All are being re-structured by information and information and communications technologies (ICTs). It is therefore not surprising that terms like the Information Society and the Knowledge-Based Economy have entered so easily into popular currency.
“The art of association becomes the mother of action. studies and applied by all.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America(1830)
“A society compose of an infinite number of unorganized individuals…constitutes a veritable sociological monstrosity.” Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labour in Society(1933)
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Notes
The comments of Fred Gault and Barry Wellman were most helpful, as was the research assistance of Tyler Chamberlin.
See The Economist, “How Real is the New Economy?”, July 24-30 1999, p.21–24, p.67
See for example Brian Easlea, Liberation and the Aims of Science, Brighton, Belhaven, 1984; Jerome R. Ravetz, Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1979; Chris Freeman and Luc Soete, Work For All or Mass Unemployment?: Computerised Technical Change into the 21st Century, London, Pinter, 1994
This is discussed in John de la Mothe, “Science and Literature in the Age of the Cyber”, Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, 1989
The Globe and Mail has reported that the multiple between these social classes has grown from 21 times to 310 times between 1971 and 1996.
Bell companies in the United States have been reported as no longer repairing phone box service in inner cities such as Detroit due to the danger posed to repair crews as well as to the high repair rate. Some neighborhoods have been reduced to 911 service only for the block thus cutting families and friends off from regular communication and changing the shape of community.
In North America, we can point to the cornerstone influence of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In Britain we can think of the Greenham Common Women. In Germany we can note the rise of Green Politics.
Erwin Schrödinger, “Are There Quantum Jumps?”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, II, 1952, p. 1
See Chapter 1 of John Ray, Enlightenment’s Wake, London, Routledge, 1995
The Economist, July 17th — 23rd, 1999, “Politics in Brief, Is There a Crisis?’, p.49-50
This first televised debate was between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Attesting to the power of communications technologies, it is noteworthy that those who watched the debate on TV thought that Kennedy had clearly won while those who listened on the radio thought that Nixon had clearly won.
Personal communication with Caroline Wagner, RAND, and Christopher T. Hill, formerly of the CRS now Vice-Provost (Research) George Mason University.
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De La Mothe, J. (2000). Empowering Information and Networks through Adaptive Public Policies. In: De La Mothe, J., Paquet, G. (eds) Information, Innovation and Impacts. Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation, vol 17. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4617-7_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4617-7_13
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