Is the UK economy an `information economy?'

Journal of Information Science, 1997

The rise of the information society has been accompanied by an enduring and high level of unemployment. This paper aims to analyse the relationship between information technology and employment as a 'systemic property' of societies, in terms of 'per capita labour demand'. Combining studies at various levels of aggregation, the paper concludes that, in the long run, technological development results in declining levels of employment. In a next step, differences in the employment structures of various developed countries are analysed. This produces an idea of the different possible futures of work in the information society.

Intereconomics, 2003

This paper examines the future of industrial capitalism, and more precisely the rise of the new information and knowledge society (IKS) and the development of the information network economy. We propose an interdisciplinary approach connecting economic analysis and information and communication sciences. First, we describe the euphoria over the new IKS. Then, we show that information networks lead to new economic laws, but not to a new civilisation. Even if new information technology accelerates changes, we must distinguish between Utopia and reality. Beyond euphoria we show the need for new critical approaches concerning technology, information and knowledge. We can thus explain the mechanisms of various myths of the IKS. technological innovations are indisputable (digitalisation, development of information storage and processing capacities...). These technological aspects are the base of the euphoria in favour of the IKS.

This article deals with the main themes concerning the new forms of the organization of work that have arisen since the changes that took place in the capitalist accumulation regime at the end of the 1970s. The impact of these processes on work has been analysed from the point of view of the spread of flexibility and precarious work (Sennett 1998), the growth of self-employment compared with waged work , the increase in the quality of work performance and attenuation of the alienation rate , the growth of work's cognitive content and the consequences that this produces in the link between capital and labour. The article addresses the issue from this last point of view, because tied to this perspective are the analyses that most decisively define the current form of capitalist development as the bearer of work cuts and discontinuity. The aim is to identify the tensions internal to the model caused by modifications in processes of value creation and by the qualitative change in work performance induced by its 'cognitivization'. The article considers the following questions in particular: a) whether the increasing involvement of networks, identities, socialization processes, intellectual and emotional attitudes of workers within the productive cycle, determine a tendency to subjugate them to the production-consumption cycle, or whether they determine a growth of influence that cultures and practices external to formal economy con have on what is produced and on how it is produced; b) whether the centrality of knowledge in the manufacturing organization increases the subordination of individuals and workers, because it involves aspects that used not to be involved in either production or consumption, or whether it entails a real growth of the autonomy and quality of work performance.

The post-industrial society was born after the 1970s. There was a type of society that was no longer based on agricultural production, nor on industry, but on the production of information, services, symbols (semiotics) and aesthetics. The post-industrial society comes from a set of situations brought about by the advent of industry, such as increasing the average life of the population, technological development, the diffusion of schooling and the diffusion of the media. Post-industrial society differs greatly from industrial society, and this is clearly seen in the service sector, which today accounts for about 60% of the total labor force, rather than industry and agriculture combined, since intellectual work is very more frequent than manual work and creativity, more important than the simple execution of tasks.

presentation to the ‘Visions of the Information Society’ ITU Conference, Geneva, , 2003

As Time Goes By, 2002

US technological leadership and domination of the world economy were further enhanced by the extraordinarily rapid rate of technical change and output growth in the semiconductor, computer, and telecommunications industries in which American firms played a leading role and to which American universities made a vital contribution. Whereas some historians have cast doubts on the pervasiveness and the magnitude of the effects of earlier technological revolutions, such as the railways, few doubt the significance of the Information Technology Revolution and some, such as Castells, see it as ushering in a new type of economy and even a new civilization.

Triplec Communication Capitalism Critique Open Access Journal For a Global Sustainable Information Society, 2014

This article critically discusses the intellectual and conceptual shifts that have occurred in information society theories (and also policies) in the previous four decades. We will examine the topic by focusing on the work of Daniel Bell and Manuel Castells, arguably two of the most important information society theorists. A key element in the academic shift from "post-industrial" (Bell) thinking to the discourse on "network society" (Castells) is that it has brought forward a different way of understanding the role of the state vis-a-vis the development of new information and communication technologies, as well as a new assessment of the role of the state in the economy and society at large. Against the Keynesian undertones of Bell's ideas, Castells' network society theory represents a neoliberally restructured version of "information society" that is associated with the rise of flexibility, individuality and a new culture of innovation. We argue that these changing discourses on the information society have served a definite hegemonic function for political elites, offering useful ideals and conceptions for forming politics and political compromises in different historical conjunctures. We conclude the article by looking at how the on-going global economic crisis and neoliberalism's weakening hegemonic potential and turn to austerity and authoritarian solutions challenges existing information society theories.

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2004

2016

Abstract: This article critically discusses the intellectual and conceptual shifts that have occurred in information society theories (and also policies) in the previous four decades. We will examine the topic by focusing on the work of Daniel Bell and Manuel Castells, arguably two of the most important infor-mation society theorists. A key element in the academic shift from “post-industrial ” (Bell) thinking to the discourse on “network society ” (Castells) is that it has brought forward a different way of under-standing the role of the state vis-a-vis the development of new information and communication tech-nologies, as well as a new assessment of the role of the state in the economy and society at large. Against the Keynesian undertones of Bell’s ideas, Castells ’ network society theory represents a ne-oliberally restructured version of “information society ” that is associated with the rise of flexibility, indi-viduality and a new culture of innovation. We argue that these chan...