CONTENT PAGE
Introduction
Components of a networked community
Characteristics of a network society
Privacy of information
Identity and networked communities
Effect of emergence of networked society on capital and labor
Arguments for a networked society
Critiques of the network society
Conclusion
Reference
The Networked Society
Introduction
In the current world, people have access to adequate, accurate, and timely information. The interconnection of people has been made possible by the tremendous improvement in technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The access and affordability of communication devices like computers and phones for a long time has brought about a gradual change in the society. The society has become digital all over the globe. Nations and regions that were previously inaccessible are now accessible, and the communities living in such areas can communicate and access the information they require on time.
The network society consists of socialized communication whose development is beyond the mass media system, a major characteristic of the industrial society. A networked society involves a transformation in sociability. The networked societies are hyper communities that do not exist in isolation. The emergence of the network individualism as a historical evolution and social structure leads to the development of individualism as a dominant culture of the society. Consequently, the new communication technologies automatically fit into the mode of coming up with sociability within self-selected communication networks. The network society eventually becomes a community of networked individuals.
The term networked society was first used in 1981 by Stein Braten as Jones (1998) explains. Van Dijk later adopted it in 1991, and in 1996, it was used by Manuel Castells to describe a society with information technology as an integral part. The adoption of the term indicates the evolution of the society from the ancient age to an information one. The term networked society, from its adoption, has gained fame and widespread usage due to modernization in telecommunication development in the society.
Individuals are moving from the industrial era to an informational one. The shift has resulted to the advent of modern technologies, especially in the field of biology. Despite the transformation, the society has remained capitalistic in nature. Economic productivity is to a great extent determined by information aspects. Communication technologies enhance the development of space as well as the rate of globalization. The ability for a quick and effective communication enhances the relationship to real-time basis. Networks are, however, not a very new form of societal organization, but essential features of social morphology. The internet as an example of communication technologies allows decentralization of operations that increases the effectiveness of networks concerning hierarchical structures. In the business environment, the communications technology enables a shift from vertical bureaucracies to Horizontal Corporation.
The logic of network has become more dominant than the power of the network. A network like of finance capital is global in scale. Networks have enabled the business to change from being capability-oriented to project-oriented. The ability and contribution of an actor in the network depends on the degree of the node contributing to the goals of the network (Castells, 1996). The new environment requires a skilled and flexible worker where a man in an organization can give away to a gentle woman. The process leads to aspects of inclusion and exclusion from the network. The people with nothing to offer to the system face exclusion.
Components of a networked community
The major component of a networked society is the world interconnected by a telecommunication network. The society shares a common platform in the dissemination of timely and accurate information. The society can know the progression of its counterparts in other parts of the world. A good example is the ability of people to communicate through sharing of ideas that would otherwise not be possible without the network.
Another crucial component is the information communication devices like Smart phones and computers. The society uses these devices through modern communication platforms to pass information. The process makes the diverse communities become one society dispersed geographically but centralized regarding information access and sharing of ideas.
Technology also plays an important role in the components of a networked society. It is through technology that the communication devices are made. The communication devices become the connection gadgets and technology itself enabling this connection. Advancement in technology has led to the development of mass media, a key component of a networked society. An example is the use of technology and devices resulting from it as connecting tools than connect people from different parts of the world resulting to a networked society.
There exist several free processes that come together to yield the new society as the product. These processes are the revolution of the information technologies and capitalism of economic shortages. Another separate process is the communism and new social movement. The three methods when put together bring out another structure of the society known as the networked society. A new economic structure also results referred to as a global informal economy (Castells, 1996).
Most important roles and processes in the age of information are mainly arranged within networks. Through the latest informational technology, the foundation for widespread knowledge of networking in the society exists. An illustration is the cooperation of the communities to ensure success and good health of the network. The power diffuses in world networks of information, images, and wealth, meaning it is no longer in control of institutions, symbolic controllers or organizations. It is through the network whereby a space of flow moves above a space of a place that a new culture forms (Castells, 1996).
The modern society will eventually become a network society in a gradual process. The implication of this is the coming together of the Internet of different people, organizations as well as mass communication. Individuals end up being connected to each other, use and access crucial information. The use of internet brings the whole world together enabling a constant communication. A large section of the population will use it in diverse interests in economic, political and cultural areas.
Characteristics of a network society
A network society is an economy of information where usefulness, production, and value of organizations, regions and nations depend on skills, data, and technologies (Murthy, 2012). It includes the management of technology and the technologies in control. The organizations and countries can integrate technology in their activities to achieve the desired results.
A unique characteristic of a network society is that it is a globalized economy different from an economy of the world that is a new reality. The foundation of network society has major strategic activities with the ability to work in a unit form on a planetary range in a real-time. The coordination of the major activities supports the classification of network society as a global economy as opposed to a world economy (Jonnes, 1998). An example is the adequate access to information among the networked community with regard to the world economy.
The nations, regions and the local economies rely significantly on the stability or changes in the global economy. The reliance is by networks and markets in which they interconnect, for example, through the World Wide Web pages are available with information about the economy. The world economy becomes of great importance and a critical factor that many, if not all countries and regions, do consider in making the crucial decisions concerning markets and networks. The network society has led to the emergence of network enterprise, another type of organization characteristic of activities in the economy (Dutton 1996). The network business extends its logic gradually to other stakeholders and agencies.
There is a notable growth of self-employment, part-time and temporary work. Although there has been no significant problem of unemployment, there has been a great tension and inadequate content regarding work. The transformation of work and employment has been significantly affected. Consequently, the power relation has been altered to favor the capital with more of reduction in size, sub contractions, and work networking. Also, induction of flexibility and individualism of contract arrangements has also been witnessed (Lyon, 2007).
Another essential characteristic of network society is social division and societal exclusion. It is a process of globalization, individualization of labor and business networking (Mackay et al., 2001). The processes weaken the organizations that represent laborer in the age of information especially in the states of wellbeing and labor unions. For example, persons previously covered by a labour union will no longer be covered if they are not members of the network community that develop gradually and this leads to their exclusion.
Politics has to cover the media space when ideas and actors are to avoid facing marginalization. The media is an important space for politics, especially television. The media politics must make the message simple. An example is the use of message inform of an image and an image in the form of a person.
The networked community is organized concerning other types of time and spaces, which means timeless period and a space of flow. Adequate time and space are crucial in a community because its nature, meaning, and it`s representation in the social world evolve continuously in the histories and among most cultures of the world. An example is the minimized time and resources in the transfer of information among the members of the network community.
The networked society has a deeper analysis of information compared to information society. Technology is not the only thing that solely defines a current society. It is a combination of cultural, economic and political factors that result to a network society. Besides individual factors, culture, religion, and political organizations do also shape the networked society significantly (Bell, 2001). The effect of these factors on the society is either positive or negative. According to Van Dijk (2012), information is a substance of the current society; network shapes organizational structures and forms in the community.
Networks are not very new; the new thing is the micro-electronic based networking technology that can provide new capabilities to the old form of social organization. Modern networking technologies enhance networks to overcome the old limits, for example, new devices and platforms that enables faster and reliable transfer of information now exist. The digital networking technologies are flexible and adaptive due to a decentralization of performance within a network of autonomous components (Bell, 2001).
Examples
The middle class in the society take network society as a product of the advancement in technology. The new information technology is an integral part of the middle class resulting to a change in the socio-political and economic activities. The middle class therefore take network society as a new society that is a product of the gradual development in information technology.
People use network society in various ways that bring out its major roles in the society. Accurate, timely, and accessible information is an important tool in sound decision making by members of the society. In this regard, network society uses the modern technology to communicate and access accurate and timely information. People also pass on ideas and strategies within the society leading social, political and economic development.
A relationship exists between people and network society. As much as technology is an important component of the network society, people also plays a crucial role in the network. The network is formed by people who are connected to each other through technology to form the network. Individuals who make up the network also depend on the network in order to access information and participate in the network. It is from the network that people are able to connect with their counter parts from various parts of the world hence maintaining the network in a functional form.
Privacy of information
The question as to whether there is the privacy of information is a debate. There are different views of various people from their experience of the networked society. Information has become more available to people in most parts of the world. The ability to access other people`s private information has become rampant in the current world. Unethical individuals using technological devices access this information against the wish of the owners.
In support of the existence of privacy, privacy exists in thoughts and when the computers and phones are off. Electronic devices and the internet connect people and places (Baldwin, 1996). In homes, the environment is secure for communication if all the communication and electronic devices are not in power or are off. The video cameras installed in most places reduce this privacy.
The use of passwords and encryption provides a significant security to data and information in general. Encrypted information cannot be accessible to any other person other than the owner (Graham & Dutton, 2014). Individuals are therefore able to secure private information from tampering and unauthorized access. High technology to secure data is important to consumers although conspiracy with governments and institution can exist making them gain more powers. With high technology like encryption, the people find themselves taking back the power while the government and other institutions are losing this control (Bowen, 1994).
Privacy exists in isolated and in third world countries. In third world countries, the technology is not much advanced leading to a high level of security of information. The private information is not accessible by many people because they do not possess advanced communication gadgets like computers and Smartphone. People`s private information is therefore not in the public domain meaning information privacy exists.
On the other hand, there is no privacy of information in the networked society. There has been no an effective self-regulatory system (Lyon, 2007). The absence of these regulations implicates that more incentives are required to ensure that information privacy is under protection. Investments in the information technology result in much knowledge that is used by unscrupulous people to manipulate systems to their various advantages.
With the advancement in technology, it is possible for people to hack into phones, computers, and other electronic devices that will enable the spy on others. The access to other people`s information is made possible by use of such thing as bugs and key loggers. Phone calls can also be tapped and tracked while computer history can be used to access private information (Dutton, 1996).Security cameras are nowadays in most places. People are not aware of their presence resulting to minimal security. No one is sure as to the precise location where the security cameras are. Most people find themselves or act on televisions and reality TV without their knowledge. Privacy is a matter of mutual interest especially in big cities where security cameras are many and much digitalized.
Identity and networked communities
Communication depends on some form of individual identity. Each and every person has to identify himself to another. The online communities and digital space have one uniting factor that is communication (Bowen, 1994). The networked online communities differ from age to the interest of the members. The identity is integral to a group of people that has particular interests. For sustainability, consideration of the multi-faceted personality is crucial especially the 97ers. It is also important to re-access the methodology for targeted messaging as it is relevant to the digital origins. Considering seven-year-olds as a seventy-year-old is important. The children are unable to coup with the ungoverned world, and this braces them for constant catastrophe. The online network space is maverick place shaping and governing them (Murthy, 2012).
Effect of emergence of networked society on capital and labor
Information is an important component of the people whether capitalist or non-capitalist. In the network economy, information is a crucial factor in production. Access to information is a critical factor regarding the flow of capital in currencies, stock, and commodities ranging from climate change to international politics (Castells, 1996). The significance of information to the society is not new but what is new is the informational shift to information manipulation.
The operation of networks especially the ability to include or exclude some actors on the grounds of the capability to contribute to the objectives of the system has individualized labor. The work process has become globally integrated while labor has become locally fragmented. The resultant of this process is the ending of the industrial-age conflict between production-based classes. Individual workers stop compromising levels and most power of the capitalist shifts to those who manage the networks.
According to Castells (1996), labor is divided into networked labor and this serves the aim of the system. The other division is the switched off labor and has little to offer the network, and therefore, the work has no value. The networked labor the divided it into two groups: self-programmable labor and collective labor.
Arguments for a networked society
Network society is a social order where various societal and media network determines the primary style of an organization together with critical structures either at the individual, organizational and social levels. In his work, Castells (1996) defined the network to be a matrix decentralized of nodes where communication takes place with the adequate freedom that does not have a time limit and any restriction. Widespread internet connectivity drives changes in the society.
The culture that is virtual is a representation of the development of common networking patterns, and flexibility in communication in the civilization organized into the electronic systems of media. The so called media are significantly different with the ability to send required information to particular groups and types of information users. All these constitute a virtual culture that is real by which the representational environments has a structure that is flexible, inclusive and many hypertext whereby navigation of day to day occurs. The reality and the symbol from which people live and pass communication are the key aspect of this test. One of the main spaces of politics is the inclusion of interactions in the space of adjusting media (Barney, 2004).
Critiques of the network society
The depiction of the contemporary world by Castells (1996) is common to people, and, therefore, the modern society and its character seems common. The importance of knowledge and information, the widening gap between those without knowledge and those with knowledge is a question on board. The sense that people need social and technological discontinuity is a point to consider.
The culture of networked civilization is significantly affected by information exchange in electronic devices from the technological links of set of connections of diverse modes of communication. The networked society gradually becomes a key establishment of reality from the modern ways of communications that are more social in nature (Barney, 2004). The needs and values of the community will shape the technology.
Other areas of critics are the examination of the importance of information, productivity, and the relationship of the capital and labor. The critiques believe that the current social-economic condition is the latest age and not a continuance of private industrial enterprise.
Webster (1999) and Garnham (2014) accuse Castells (1996) of technological determination. Castells (1996) differentiates between the mode of production and the means of development. The pattern of this development is technical. The problem raised by Webster (1999) is the autonomy of the style of development. Social relation faces influence from the way of development and not capitalism.
Conclusion
Networked society is a community in which a crucial social structure and social activities are evident in the organization of electronically-made information networks. Network society concerns social networks which process and manages information and in the process use micro-electronic based technology. Networks are the fundamental units of the modern society. Other factors other than technology make up the modern society. The factors include cultural, political and religious factors. The advancement in technology throughout the years has been in line with the development of the communities. Societies have incorporated technology in their day to lives. Due to electronic devices like computers and Smartphone the world has become accessible due to timely access to required information. The development of technology has also resulted in privacy concerns especially when unethical practices occur. It is a collective responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that both ethical and legal factors to be in consideration in the use of modern technology.
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