Cyberpolitics - Week 2: Informational society

Manuel Castells

The TrilogyThe Information Age: Economy, Society and

Culture

Marx and Castells

Mode of productionCapitalismMaterial baseIndustrial societyClass societyDivision of labour ExploitationAlienation - from product Class struggle

Mode of productionCapitalismMode of developmentInformational societyNetwork societySpace of flowInclusion or exclusion -Alienation - culture of virtual reality - threatIdentity and local

industrialism

informationalism

capitalismstatis

m

Mode of development

Mode of production

Production - class relation

Experience - gender, sexuality, race, family relation

Power - institutionalized power (state) and microphysics of power

Social process

Class discussion:

Where is Hong Kong located in the map? How do class relation (in production), gender / sexuality / family relation (in our experience) and power relation (institutional and micro-physical) interplay with the macro social political structure in shaping the distinctive character of the city?

Definition of informational society (p.21)

The Net and network society

Space of flows and the integrated global network

Case: Wal-mart

Inclusion or exclusion: Club membership

Culture of virtual realityTimeless time and placeless space

Identity and local movement

transformative identity building process- Legitimizing identity- Resistance identity- Project identity

Anti-Walmart campaign

e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATu-WhQ8IsY

Case II: Local Action - preservation campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k18Y8pJGYBc

The role of the state - power

Concluding remarks

Next Class reading:

Do Artifacts Have Politics?

Workshop:

Building our on-line community - list one thing that we need and explain why.