Ester Barinaga
Professor
Kista: The two sides of the Network Society
Author
Summary, in English
The term “network society” is often discussed as the society of the future, with technological saturation, knowledge-based work, and network structure being its defining characteristics. The network society implies a world populated by engineers, global telecom companies, highly mobile workers, cultural diversity, spin-offs, high-tech clusters, and venture capital. Theoretical approaches and empirical studies of the network society focus mainly on this side of the network society. Yet, there is another side to it. One that is often forgotten by the literature. A side more rightfully recognized by low-skilled workers, job in-security, and few possibilities to influence the society to come. In the paper, we attempt to offer a more balanced picture of the network society. We center our study in Kista, “Sweden’s Silicon Valley”. An analysis of the two local free newspapers shows that the social relationships of the network society are much more intricate than usually described. In our conclusions, we discuss the biased and simplistic conceptualizations of terms such as “network society”, “informational capitalism” or “new economy.”
Publishing year
2004
Language
English
Pages
225-244
Publication/Series
Networks and Communication Studies
Volume
18
Issue
3/4
Document type
Journal article
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- High-tech region
- information society
- social divide
Status
Published