NETWORK SOCIETY
The network society can be defined as a social
formation with an infrastructure of social and media networks enabling its
prime mode of organization at all levels (individual, group, organizational and
societal). Increasingly, these networks link all units or parts of this
formation. In western societies, the individual linked by networks is becoming
the basic unit of the network society. In eastern societies, this might still
be the group (family, community, work team) linked by networks.
In the
contemporary process of individualization, the basic unit of the network
society has become the individual who is linked by networks. This is caused by
simultaneous scale extension (nationalization and internationalization) and
scale reduction (smaller living and working environments) other kinds of
communities arise.
Daily
living and working environments are getting smaller and more heterogeneous,
while the range of the division of labour, interpersonal communications and
mass media extends. So, the scale of the network society is both extended and
reduced as compared to the mass society. The scope of the network society is
both global and local, sometimes indicated as “global”. The organization of its
components (individuals, groups, organizations) is no longer tied to particular
times and places. Aided by information and communication technology, these
coordinates of existence can be transcended to create virtual times and places
and to simultaneously act, perceive and think in global and local terms.
The
network society is a hyper social society, not a society of isolation. People,
by and large, do not face their identity in the Internet, except for some
teenagers experimenting with their lives. People fold the technology into their
lives, link up virtual reality and real virtuality they live in various
technological forms of communication, articulating them as they need it.
However, there is a major change in
sociability, not a consequence of Internet or new communication technologies
but a change that is fully supported by the logic embedded in the communication
networks. This is the emergence of networked individualism, as social structure
and historical evolution induce the emergence of individualism as the dominant
culture of our societies, and the new communication Technologies perfectly fit
into the mode of building sociability along self-selected communication
networks, on or off depending on the needs and moods of each individual. So,
the network society is a society of networked individuals.
BY
JOHN CAFRENE
BAPRM
42567
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