The Internet, Power and Society
Rethinking the Power of the Internet to Change Lives

Marcus Leaning (Author)

9781843344520, Elsevier Science

Paperback / softback, published 30 August 2009

194 pages
23.3 x 15.6 x 1.4 cm, 0.38 kg

"This book is definitely worth a read…it is well structured, well written, and extremely informative." --Online Information Review

An exciting challenge to how the internet and ICT have been understood in academia and popular culture and shows how important ‘cultural’ assumptions are in how we understand technology. The Internet, Power and Society argues that the way in which we view technology such as the internet owes much to older, historic views of the media and to ‘issues’ in contemporary society. Such perspectives are deeply rooted in a Western view of technology and the book concludes by offering a radically new perspective as to how the internet can change a society that is truly global in its application.

Part 1 Understanding the Internet: Theories of technology and society
The idea of the Internet
The Internet, politics and the public sphere
Politics and the role of the Internet. Part 2 The Internet and society: Social form and media potency – the processes of modernisation
The Internet and society: Reconsidering the link
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Databases & the Web [UNN], Internet: general works [UBW], Library & information sciences [GL]