Political economy …

Political economy ?

Political economy

The birth• First - France in 1615 with the well known

book by Antoine de Montchrétien: Traité de l’economie politique.

• French physiocrats, Adam Smith, David Ricardo and German philosopher and social theorist Karl Marx were some of the exponents of political economy.

• Now a specialised subject of study in colleges

The present state of political economy…

• No more a synonym for economics• Different dimensions• Marxian analysis• Economists’ advice to a polity or public• Vast Literature discourse led to change in the meaning• From model of economic policy• To examining how political forces affect the choice of policies• political economy refers to different, but related, approaches

to studying economic and political behaviours,

The basic idea..

• interdisciplinary studies drawing upon economics, law, and political science

• explaining how political institutions, the political environment, and the economic system—capitalist, socialist, mixed—influence each other

• Each discipline has their own approach of relating their subject to p.e

Political economy and the internet

+++

One man army

The golden weapon

Music, videos, games, info, chatting, social networking, etc etc etc and lots and lots of etc

The intro…

• A computer with internet ( which involves a lot of other equipment like the telephone connection, the mode, software, etc.) has become a necessity.

• Millions of us are investing in what could be the largest media transformation

• A new form of convergence of social interactions into digital format on the internet

• Let us attempt to understand this transformation in the way we communicate first……..

• The decision makers and their role• attempt to make us believe these new forms

of communications- our own interest• They are sub-consciously (or consciously)

being driven by a ‘systematic momentum’• Our duty to keep a check on this phenomenon

to avoid a creation of society functioning as a solely consumerist and economic.

Political economy of communication….. (A

simplified version of Vincent Mosco’s ideas of it) • Analyse the forces that shape our

communication patterns• Understand the p.e of I.C by attempting to

uncover the realities of the current situation• The players, the players, their activities and

environments, and their motives and effects• Tries to understand social processes rather

than institutions

Mosco’s 3 entry points

• 1 COMMODIFICATION• 2 SPATIALIZATION• 3 STRUCTURATION

Political economy of the internet…

• "Digitization reinforces a social process in which the production and distribution of information evolves into the most important economic activity in a society, in which information technology begins to function as the Key infrastructure for all industrial production and service provision, and in which information itself becomes a commodity tradable on a global scale." -Hamelink

Contd……• Computing technology in workplaces• No need of physical analogue (news ppr, cd

etc.)• Can remain in digital bits• They just need a means to send it from

producer’s computer to recepient’s computer• Thus the internet in I.C plays an important role

The digital age – the age of convergence

• The merging functions of diff media• telecommunications, media and computing

industries – overlapping activities• according to McChesney and Herman This

convergence is important in two ways• 1. the size and growth of the merging global info-

communications sector• 2. the uncertainty in the markets caused by this

convergence

Increase in the number of people online

• Today internet is the mother of all mediums • You develop its economic potential- you get rewards,

you don’t- you’ll end up in oblivion• Competition a major force towards the internet for

companies• Hype created by mass media • Internet is important to their corporate customers and

interesting to their audiences• Govt promotes it out of the fear of the fall of their

economy due to dearth of their infra- structure• Today plenty of people mke their online presence felt

which have affected many aspects of our lives

Microsoft and monopoly• an industry giant extending its base• Has monopolized the market• Initially started s an MS dos os provider, today

comprises a variety of software apps• The Netscape controversy• US Department of Justice and 13 states have filed

anti-trust suits against Microsoft, charging it with uncompetitive practices

• controls the software that in turn controls attention,

Governments and the Global Information Infrastructure (GII)• Internet is global, thus leading to national

governments heavily involved in the formation of a new Global Information Infrastructure (GII), based on the Internet.

• Fall of soviet union – dominant economic idea – free market capitalism

• The W.T.O and I.M.F• Al Gore, the U.S. Vice-President, has been one of

the biggest promoters of the GII• U.S and European domintion in these forums

causing disparities in the flow of revenue.

The commercialized net

• The death of Acceptable Use Policy• Commercial sites largest category of computer

permanently linked to the Internet.• Every website has some commercial value to it • Real estates, transactions, shopping, are all

moving to the virtual world

Advertising on the internet

• Target audience attention• Which site or portal has the most hits-

attention economy• Search sites – ads picked on the basis of typed

words• Their research – invasion of our privacy• The cookies• many different forms of advertising, sub-

liminal and direct

Pornography and censorship

• a major conduit for digital pornography• All the hype has died• Culture gaps cannot be bridged • Software• Some govt involvement• Parental control options • Electronic privacy informtion center

Security and privacy

• Fear of hackers a hinderance to e commerce• Access to our info by researchers for

advertising• Cloud computing ??• Cookies• Photographs on net• Search engines – trackers of user info

lifestyle

• Virtual communities• Work life vs. home life barriers breached• Structural barriers broken• Change in communication patterns• Speed gen v/s lazy gen• The download culture• disconnect

Some other forms of political economy….

• (result of discussions of the topic with my kashmiri roommate zahoor-2 yr history student)

• Historians – Taj mahal ….• Literature- sale of art • History/education/journalism- nalanda• Technology- the issue of tablets to I.I.T students• Storytellers – films and visual arts