Network society

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The term network society describes companies which have a network-like organizational structure , for example through electronic links between their participants . Each participating unit (individual, family, organization, state, ...) represents a node in the network and is connected to it via various links. This definition is thus differentiated from the description of society as an interplay of different, separate and functionally differentiated systems , which other actors in society understand only as the environment. The term gained notoriety primarily through Manuel Castell's three-volume treatise The Information Age (in particular Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society ). However, the concept of the network is already in the name of the World Wide Web and was already used by its inventor Tim Berners Lee . There is no uniform definition of network society or network theory, but rather a multitude of different approaches that try to describe the changes in society since the introduction of electronic communication.

Manuel Castells

Manuel Castells uses the network society to describe the superstructure of a global society that can be described with a network-like knot consisting of information, power, technology and capital. The identity of all participants in this society is defined here through the relationship and the demarcation to other nodes.

According to Castells, the structure of the network company consists of several layers: 1. the technical infrastructure, 2. the "localities", under which Castells understands the interplay of geographical points and the prevailing social conditions and areas of influence, and 3. the management level, which the Control of the "currents" through the network takes over.

Castells assumes that people are organized less according to geographical proximity than according to proximity. For him, Frankfurt is closer to Tokyo than to one of its suburbs. “The space of currents is the material organization of forms of social practice that have a common time, insofar as they function through currents. By currents I mean purposeful, repetitive, programmable sequences of exchange and interaction between physically disconnected positions that social actors occupy within the economic, political and symbolic structures of society. "

McLuhan

According to the media theory strongly influenced by Marshall McLuhan , a society is primarily constituted through its main medium. The electronically communicating society then dissolves the Gutenberg Society, which communicated primarily via the printed word. According to this interpretation, the network society begins with the introduction of the telegraph, which allows immediate communication between those who are absent and thus leads to new social, political and economic structures.

Jan van Dijk

In his book "The Network Society" the Dutch sociologist and media theorist Jan van Dijk describes the network society as a dystopian state. The Internet and the society around it are not a place of equality and democracy, but rather favor the concentration of power in the hands of a few corporations. Anyone could publish articles on the Internet, but in fact nobody would read them. Critics consider this perspective too short-sighted.

Aspects

Network structures is z. B. in science and business ascribed a greater innovation potential because they are able to structure unstructured things and still allow flexibility.

There is a shift in power from a single central concentration to the nodal points where social currents are controlled. Inclusion and exclusion of networks are decisive for the social situation of individuals.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tim Berners Lee: Weaving the Web. The original Design and Destiny of the World Wide Web. 2000
  2. ↑ Manuel Castells: The rise of the network society. The Information Age I. 2004, p. 112ff
  3. ↑ Manuel Castells: The rise of the network society. The Information Age I. 2004, p. 467
  4. ^ Jan Van Dijk: The Network Society Aspects of the New Media. 1999
  5. ↑ Netzpiloten: http://www.netzpiloten.de/%E2%80%9Cbeunruhigene%E2%80%9D-thesen-zur-netzwerkgesellschaft/
  6. ↑ Manuel Castells: The rise of the network society. The Information Age I. 2004, p. 76