Books On Information Society

Sociologyindex

Sociology Books 2008

The Deepening Divide : Inequality in the Information Society (February 15, 2005)
by Jan A G M van Dijk
During the mid 90’s, around the time the Internet became popular, it became apparent that there was still one critical issue holding back limitless opportunities. Computer professionals had to find a way to close the gap between those who do not have computer or Internet access and those who do, also known as the digital divide. Suddenly, hundreds of conferences of computer professionals, social scientists, and government policy experts worldwide dedicated themselves to this concern. Then the Internet hype seemed to dissipate, and observers assumed the digital divide would fix itself.
The Deepening Divide: Inequality in the Information Society explains why the digital divide is still widening and, in advanced high-tech societies, deepening. Taken from an international perspective, the book offers full coverage of the literature and research and a theoretical framework from which to analyze and approach the issue. Where most books on the digital divide only describe and analyze the issue, Jan van Dijk presents 26 policy perspectives and instruments designed to close the divide itself.
Written in a simple, thorough, and multidisciplinary approach, The Deepening Divide offers insights to students, researchers, policymakers, and professionals in media and communication studies, sociology, educational policy, public policy, and computer education.
Jan A.G.M. van Dijk is an internationally recognized expert in the field of communication, his specific interest being new media studies. Van Dijk is the author of The Network Society: Social Aspects of the New Media (SAGE, 1999) and co-editor of Digital Democracy: Issues of Theory and Practice (SAGE, 2000). He is an advisor of the European Commission in the Information Society Forum. As a professor of Communication Science at Twente University, van Dijk teaches and develops the sociology of the information society, in particular the social-cultural, political, and organizational aspects.

The Information Society: A Study Of Continuity And Change. 4th edition (October 30, 2004)
by John Feather

Investigating Information Society (January 1, 2003)
by Hugh MacKay, Wendy Maples, Paul Reynolds
Drawing on a rich body of empirical work, it explores three core themes of information society debates: the transformation of culture through the information revolution, changing patterns of work and employment and the reconfiguration of time and space in everyday life. In exploring these, the reader is introduced through case studies, activities and questions for discussion, to the practicalities of doing social research and the nature of social science argument and understanding.
Hugh Mackay is Staff Tutor and Senior Lecturer in Sociology at The Open University. Wendy Maples is Staff Tutor and Lecturer in Geography at the Open University. Paul Reynolds is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Edge Hill College.

Theories of the Information Society (The International Library of Sociology) (May, 2002)
by Frank Webster
Theories of the Information Society provides commentaries on all the postwar theories of the information society--Bell, Schiller, Baudrillard, Giddens and Castells. Interest in "information" is growing in the wake of the modernity post-modernity debate. The debate suggests that the Western economic base has shifted from production/manufacturing to service and information, which has the changed the class structure and political process.
In this new and thoroughly revised edition the author brings his work right up to date both with new theoretical work and with social and technological changes - such as the rapid growth of the internet and accelerated globalisation.

Mobilizing the Information Society: Strategies for Growth and Opportunity (April, 2002)
by Robin Mansell, W. Edward Steinmueller
This book provides a critical assessment of progress towards the Information Society. Drawing upon unique empirical data, this book lays the foundation for more useful theories of the process of change, and more effective strategies and policies for increasing the benefits from the Information Society. The authors provide insights into the social, economic, and political forces that are structuring the pathway to the Information Society-and its consequences for business and individuals in their everyday lives.

The Information Society: A Skeptical View (April, 2002)
by Christopher May
Counteracts a lot of hype, Reviewer: W Boudville (US), September 22, 2005
May supplies a logical and sceptical analysis of advances in information technology (IT), where these often have been accompanied by breathless claims of generating big societal changes. He correctly distinguishes between new technology that causes existing social interactions to be more efficient or faster, and those that make truly new social mores. For the latter, he suggests that biotechnology may ultimately fall in this category. Its potential for life saving or life extending advances may cause far reaching social upheaval.
His views are a good counterpoint to much hype about technology. Naturally, he cannot resist remarking on the Y2K imbroglio. How this was largely puffed up in an echo of the dot com and telco zeitgeist. A fairy tale of its times.
The book is useful in giving you a more nuanced perspective on technological change. It even dares suggest that earlier times experienced more fundamental changes!

Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency and Policy in the Information Society
by Brian Loader (Editor)
Politicians, policy makers and business gurus are all encouraging us to join the information superhighway at the nearest junction or risk being excluded from the social and economic benefits of the information revolution. Cyberspace Divide critically considers the complex relationship between technological change, its effect upon social divisions, its consequences for social action and the emerging strategies for social inclusion in the Information Age. The contributors cover such themes as human interaction, ethical behavior, and the growing disparity between the information rich and the information poor.
Brian D. Loader is Co-Director of the Community Informatics Research and Applications United, University of Teesside. He is editor of The Governance of Cyberspace (1997) and co-editor of Towards a Post-Fordist Welfare State (1994), both published by Routledge.

How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Society
by C. John Sommerville, John C. Sommerville
'Insightful, informative, eye-opening reading!' May 8, 2000
Reviewer: Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA). How The News Makes Us Dumb is a brilliant diagnoses of the modern news industry, the sound-bitten wasteland of the daily and nightly news, and how we have allowed this utter nonsense to dominate and numb our lives. Filled with deep insights and plain common sense, the book not only carves up this sacred cow, but explains how our personal lives, and our neighborhoods, could be revitalized if we substantially reduced the amount of time we spend reading and watching the news.
The onslaught of news has not made everyone happy. More than 150 years ago, Henry David Thoreau advised: "Read not the Times, Read the Eternities." More recent information critics include Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves To Death, 1986), James Fallow (Breaking The News, 1996) and Barry Sanders (The Private Death Of Public Discourse, 1998). And of course the unforgettable 1976 film Network, where a television anchorman played by Peter Finch (who died of a heart attack during the promotional campaign of the film) inspires thousands of people to throw open their windows and shout: "I can't stand it anymore!"
Other writers have blasted the news from many angles: it is biased; it frightens us into passiveness; it is controlled by corporations with the one sublime goal of selling us things we don't need. Sommerville's critique is thoroughly unique. He argues that the news -- from newspapers and televisions -- the news makes us dumb because it comes to us daily. News has become a product, a commodity. To keep us reading, to feed our addiction, the newspapers and television stations need to fill their spaces every day and make this filler seem as if it's crucially important. Because there is rarely a story of true urgency, in a balanced culture, the news would not be daily. Sommerville writes: "The only reason for making news daily is to create an information industry."
When we watch tv news, Sommerville argues, we get sound bites that average 20-seconds in length or less. We watch the news and we mistakenly believe we are informed. But to truly understand things we need not news but wisdom, which is the ability to see events in a larger context. Sommerville says that the news as it is served to us, by its very nature, destroys these larger contexts. His acid test for value is the question: Is this worth reading again? And he says that, one month later, to re-read a newspaper will reveal it to be worthless, but to re-read a classic book gives us a much deeper understanding of things.
The book contains dozens of contradictory headlines taken from major newspapers, such as this headline from the New York Times (June 8, 1995): "Greenspan Sees Chance of Recession," and this headline, on the same day, from the Washington Post: "Recession Is Unlikely, Greenspan Concludes." And Sommerville provides other amusing tidbits: he tells us about the Bedouin Shepherds in Palestine who, when they need some cash, simply find ancient documents, tear them into little pieces, then sell them to archaeologists.
For many years in America, it was insurance companies -- not doctors and patients -- who dictated how long a patient could remain in the hospital. Likewise, the news has assumed a too-important role in American society. Sommerville writes:
"News never asked to replace culture. Its proper function is to raise questions about dominant ideas, not to become the dominant discourse, silencing or undermining all others."
The news drives and unduly influences our government; it turns science into superstition; and it flatters our vanity by deceiving us into believing that opinions are the same as thoughts. With all the news we read and hear, and all the events we give our opinions about, shouldn't our society be intelligent and well-informed? Yet -- as a recent article by Michael Schudson (Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2000) points out -- Americans are vastly ignorant about even the most basic facts of political life.
Obviously, this book will upset many readers, and be ignored by many newspaper book reviewers, simply because it is an honest book. Despite the bad news about the news industry -- and our own folly for buying into it --Sommerville concludes with a vision of hope. The last chapter of the book is titled "Virtual Society or Real Community?" Sommerville does not believe that the news product can be improved. He wants us to give it up. We should cut down our news infusion, he advises. Instead of daily, read the news weekly, or better yet, only once a month. The result might be that instead of paying lip service to issues far from us, we will learn something deeper about the issues that really matter to us. And then, ultimately, we will take action to improve the community around us. "Think locally and act locally," might be the motto here.
Thomas Jefferson, as quoted by Sommerville, was not a fan of newspapers. Jefferson wrote: "Nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. ...I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing the world of their time. ... The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors."
Jefferson here, is echoing the famous idea of Socrates and the Zen masters, that to know you know nothing is better than to falsely believe that you know. Sommerville shrewdly elucidates this Jeffersonian notion. In this wise book he thoroughly explores a newsworthy problem and offers a workable solution, a solution that is in our power to enact. We have become an ignorant and passive society, while the new Millennium -- more than any other time in history -- calls for informed and active women and men. We can change the world by individual action: by thinking more, by talking more, by improving our own neighborhoods, by reading more significant books. One of these significant books is How The News Makes Us Dumb, and reading it will help to make us smart.
Michael Pastore Reviewer
Don't Be a News Junky - Kick the Habit Now, May 15, 2000
Reviewer: Bernard M. Patten "Book worm" (Seabrook, TX United States)
How can you know for sure that they are not telling you the truth? That is the question answered by this little gem of a book. We have all known that if you watch TV you are wasting your time for TV is junk food for the mind - mental material of no intellectual or lasting value. In fact, studies have shown that while watching TV all the great powers of the human mind are quiescent. The sadder part about this is that TV prevents us from using that time for better purposes such as sleeping or reading or, should I even mention it in this hyped up era, for thinking. Lost opportunities to learn and think eventually take their toll and make us dumb. The same holds true for reading the newspapers. The paucity of wit and wisdom in the news is no accident, as Professor Sommerville so well knows. It is by design. And the design is to sell more newspapers and their glitz bag counterparts, magazines. The design is to make us information junkies and overdose us on trivia. Fortunately, the solution to this gigantic problem might be close at hand. Read his book and discover for yourself what that solution is.

Science, Technology, And Society: A Sociological Approach (November 30, 2005)
by Wenda K. Bauchspies, Jennifer Croissant, Sal P. Restivo
Science, Technology, and Society: A Sociological Approach is a comprehensive guide to the emergent field of science, technology, and society studies and its implications for today’s culture and society. Written in an accessible style, and designed especially for students, the book emphasizes the sociological sciences as the foundation for STS studies. It opens with a discussion of current STS topics, research tools, and theories, and tackles some of the most urgent issues on the STS agenda: power and culture, race, gender, colonialism, the internet, cyborgs and robots, and biotechnology.
Case studies highlight particular ideas and their practical application. A glossary and further reading suggestions complete Science, Technology, and Society, making it an indispensable introduction to a controversial area of inquiry.
Wenda K. Bauchspies is Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society and Women’s Studies in the STS Program at Pennsylvania State University.
Jennifer Croissant is Associate Professor in the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona.
Sal Restivo is Professor of Sociology and Science Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Information Society in an Enlarged Europe (Hardcover) (November, 2005)
by Soumitra Dutta (Editor), Arnoud De Meyer (Editor), Amit Jain (Editor), Gérard Richter (Editor)
This book provides a detailed analysis of the state of the information society prevalent in the European Union in 2004, the year in which 10 new member states gained accession to the European Union. Based upon detailed data collection and rigorous analysis, the book presents a benchmarking study of the 10 new member states and 3 candidate countries of the European Union as compared to the 15 incumbent countries with respect to the development of their information societies. Using a framework based on the Europe 2005 benchmarking framework, the 28 EU members and candidate countries are ranked according to their level of information society development, and then classified into 4 categories. The results presented in this book are of importance to all managers and companies doing business in the IT sector in the European Union.

Information Society (Hardcover) (October 30, 2005)
by Danniel Bell, Daniel Bell

The Information Society Reader (Routledge Studentreaders) (January, 2004)
by Frank Webster (Editor)
The Information Society Reader pulls together the main contributions to this debate from some of the key figures in the field-- Manuel Castells, Daniel Bell, Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault and Christopher Lasch.. This authoritative anthology addresses a wide array of topics and issues, such as: Post-industrialism; Surveillance; Network Security; Digital Democracy; the Digital Divide; and Virtual Relations.
With a comprehensive introduction from Frank Webster, and section introductions contextualising the readings, The Information Society Reader will be an invaluable resource for students and academics studying contemporary society and all things cyber.
Frank Webster is Professor of Sociology at City University, London. He is the author of Theories of the Information Society, 2nd Edition (Routledge, 2002).

The Information Society and the Welfare State: The Finnish Model (September 30, 2004)
by Manuel Castells, Pekka Himanen
This book takes an international approach by discussing the information society and overall business environment of Finland. Known throughout the world for its successful companies and its exceptional rates of innovation, this volume discusses the country's total transformation in technology, corporate business and education. It creates a complete model of comparison to other economies. Finally, it discusses Finland's future challenges as well as what can be learned to enhance an existing society.

Digital Nation : Toward an Inclusive Information Society (November 1, 2004)
by Anthony G. Wilhelm
As our social institutions migrate into cyberspace, the digitally disenfranchised face increasing hardships. What happens when -- in search of quick and cheap fixes -- a government office shuts down and is replaced by a public Web site? What happens when a company accepts only online job applications? Inevitably, those most in need of the services and opportunities offered are further marginalized. In Digital Nation, Tony Wilhelm shows us how to build a more inclusive information society, offering a plan that reaps the benefits offered by the new technology while avoiding the pitfalls of social exclusion.
Technology, he tells us, isn't the problem -- it's the use of technology that can empower or control, unite or divide; we need to recover the ideas of social justice and fairness that have been lost in the rush to make things faster and cheaper. In Wilhelm's vision of an inclusive digital nation, everyone can take advantage of the new technology. With everyone part of the information society, we can revolutionize the way we educate our citizens, deliver healthcare, and engage in productive work. The result will be increased efficiency and productivity that will lead to long-term savings of billions of dollars and an enhanced quality of life as technology expands choice and opportunity. We can begin to bring this about by expanding access to computers and making it easier to acquire digital literacy skills. To do nothing -- to turn a blind eye to the promise of an inclusive technology -- would cost us socially and economically. Digital Nation's call for action sets the terms for a new debate on bridging the digital divide.
From the Inside Flap
"Anthony Wilhelm has written a public policy manifesto for the digital age. His book lays out the social and economic case for bridging the digital divide, along with the policies required to achieve universal inclusion in our emerging information societies. 'Digital Nation' is essential reading for anyone seriously concerned about the societal implications of the Internet."
--William H. Dutton, Director, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
"This a provocative, controversial, but thoughtful book. A reader who doesn't agree with all of Wilhelm's positions can still find it an interesting and worthwhile read."
--Vinton G. Cerf, Senior Vice President for Technology Strategy, MCI.

Cybercrime Vandalizing the Information Society
by Steven Furnell
It's hard to argue that 20th-century law enforcement authorities had any idea how to deal with computer-assisted crime. Hoping to help the sheriffs of the new frontier, British computer security expert Steven Furnell gives a thorough overview of the means and motivations of their prey in Cybercrime: Vandalizing the Information Society.
As a guide to mainstream conceptions of hacking, viral code, and e-fraud, the book is invaluable both for the authorities it targets and its discussion of the antiauthoritarians who want to minimize both cyberharm and electronic oppression. Furnell makes some excellent points, well worth repeating as they're often ignored: computer security is still mostly laughable, most bad-guy hackers are less motivated by greed than other crooks, and traditional law-enforcement techniques are conspicuously irrelevant. For its topic, Cybercrime is comparatively calm and rational--just what we need to beat down the hype. --Rob Lightner
Provides an authoritative introduction and reference to the subject for business decision-makers, IT professionals, academics, and others interested in going beyond the usual hype and sensationalism. Softcover.

Ethical Global Information Society: Culture and Democracy Revisited (Ifip International Federation for Information Processing)
by Jacques Berleur (Editor), Graham Whitehouse (Editor), Diane Whitehouse (Editor)
Many challenges lie ahead in the development of a global information society. Culture and democracy are two areas which may be under particular threat. The book reflects on today's complex and uncertain cultural and democratic developments arising as a result of an increasingly global, technologically-connected world. In particular it focuses on the Internet, examining new metaphors for communication, defining the issues at stake and proposing options, actions and solutions. Among the issues discussed were: multi-cultural developments; cultural sensitivities and the involvement of cultural minorities; generation gaps; gender issues; technology access for the elderly and the disabled; technology transfer.

Regulating the Global Information Society (Warwick Studies in Globalisation)
by Christopher T. Marsden (Editor)
This collection examines the economic, legal, political and sociological impact of communication technologies on the regulation of communication and information networks.

Overload and Boredom: Essays on the Quality of Life in the Information Society (Contributions in Sociology)
by Orrin E. Klapp
This series of essays explores the impact of information on the quality of life in modern society. Addressing the significance of boredom as an indicator of overloads of information, Klapp argues that the information society has become boring in spite of itself. He contends that constant inundation with information has led to nothing less than the attrition of meaning. Redundancy and noise, Klapp asserts, have replaced resonance and variety in the modern world. The information society has become entropic rather than progressive and a deficit in the quality of life has resulted. The author expands upon these problems of the information society; identifying their origins, addressing their implications, and examining the social placebos and temporary remedies currently employed in dealing with them. Finally, he offers his conclusions and suggests ways in which modern man might address the loss in human potential and perhaps find a remedy for culturally symptomatic boredom.

Towards the Information Society : The Case of Central and Eastern European Countries (Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung)
by D. Uhl, G. Banse (Editor), C.J. Langenbach (Editor), P. Machleidt (Editor)
The workshop provided an overview of the status and perspectives of Technology Assessment (TA) in the individual countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It also showed the complexity of creation of space for TA type activities in individual countries - for independent activity of both experts and the public based on individual responsibility. The book consists of the final version of the presented papers and new contributions initiated by the workshop. Moreover, the authors reflect the ideas and incentives sounded in the discussions. The book is addressed to researchers in the fields of social science, humanities, information technology and technology assessment in particular. It may also be of interest to policy-makers and the wider public concerned with the information society.
A collection of the final versions of the papers from a conference organized by the Academy of Sciences in the Czech Republic, entitled Democracy, Participation and Technology Assessment, as well as the new contributions stimulated by the conference. For both policymakers and the wider public.

The European Information Society: A Reality Check (February, 2004)
by Jan Servaes (Editor)

Information Society Studies (Routledge Research in Information Technology and Society)
by Alistair S. Duff.

Making the Information Society: Experience, Consequences, and Possibilities
by James W. Cortada
Dr. Cortada demonstrates how the values and behavior of the information age are firmly rooted in hundreds of years of Western culture. He also illuminates the complex chain of experiences, consequences, and new possibilities that made the information age a reality, and continue to drive it forward today.
Making the Information Society illuminates the complex chain of experiences,consequences, and possibilities that launched the information age in the U.S., and drive it onward today. Dr. James Cortada shows how Americans haveleveraged information technolog.