Awkwardly Close to Power: A Sensitive Topic in the Networked Society

Author: Lax
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The vast amount of information in the network society does not benefit everyone equally. Due to various conditions such as material equipment, geography, and gender, it widens the gap in accessible information for individuals. This book argues that it is not new technologies that create new societies, but rather that new technologies obscure persistent inequalities and social divisions, providing political convenience for suppressing reforms.
We live in an information society, where it is believed that the emergence of new communication technologies will promote wealth growth, human health, and social democracy by providing unlimited information from around the world. But is the information society truly like that? Since the right to access information is confined to only a small portion of the world's population, who will actually reap the fruits of new information and communication technologies? The book "The Embarrassing Right to Access" by scholars from Europe and North America conducts a comprehensive analysis, debunking the myths of the information society. None of these scholars suffer from technophobia; on the contrary, they have calmed down from the hype and are thinking about the true role of these new technologies in society. This book argues that it is not new technologies that create new societies, but rather that new technologies obscure persistent inequalities and social divisions, providing political convenience for suppressing reforms.