The Information Society - Report Example

College We are living in a modern society where sharing of information is faster than shaking hands with the person seated next to you. Many people have not understood the society we are living. Most of them are confused by the way the society is changing from one form to another. The society that existed thirty years ago is not same to the one we are living in today. Many people ask themselves question that cannot be answered easily. They ask themselves the kind of society they are living in. Where is the society taking them from where they are? Some people think that we are entering the information age. These people will refer to the society as an information society. Others will ask, what is an information society? Many authors do not give the real definition of information society. This is because it concerns many things that take place the society. According to Frank Webster (2006), information society is the type of society that is defined by the value of economy, changes in the technology, how the information flows in the society, and the changes in the people’s occupations. Other people refer to the society we are living as a postindustrial society. This is a society has occurrence of economy transition from the manufacturing to the more improved service economy. Lastly, other people in the society think that we are living in a network society. Others would ask what this network society is. Network society is the type of society whereby the structure of the society is shaped by both media and social network. However, there are many differences and similarities between these concepts. Each one has its feature that makes it different from the others. Each of them describes the society we are living in but one of them completely defines our society more that the others. Therefore, analysis of these theories about our society will assist in deciding on the type of the society we are living (Webster, 2006, p.12). According to frank Webster (2006), information society is defined by many characteristics that have made the people live in a world of high standards. One of the things that define information society is the changes in the technology. In the past, the technology used was slow and full of errors. Many people would not trust the technology in transferring their information. Some members in the society hated t5he technology due the many errors it caused on the information to be transferred. As information transfer became more important in the society, many companies came up with many ways of transferring information in ways that are more reliable. Some of the new technologies that came into existence are satellites, cable televisions and the internet. These technologies made information transfer faster and cheaper from the old technologies. Through the information transfer, banks all over the world can share information of their customers. The customers despite the geographical areas can do their transactions any time (Webster, 2006, p.20). Another feature that defines information society is the change in the people’s occupations. Our society is considered as the information society when there is decline in the manufacturing sector but on the other hand, there is increase in the service sector. In the past, the society was characterized by manufacturing jobs but currently, most people are working in the service sectors, which are considered as the white-collar jobs. These white-collar jobs are more paying than the manufacturing jobs. This change in the occupation marks the society as the true information society since the information itself creates very many job opportunities. Currently, many people prefer working in information sectors rather than manufacturing sectors. This information sectors pay more salaries and the work there do not need a lot of energy to complete as compared the manufacturing works that needs a lot of energy and time to complete. Some of the job opportunities in the information sectors include public relations, accounting, local governments, network sectors and the law. Therefore, this shows that we are living in an information society (Webster, 200, p.23). Information activities have led to the increase in the economy for most of the countries in the world. Information businesses have been used to increase the gross national products (GNP). Information businesses have overtaken other old businesses like farming and manufacturing. Information has transformed our societies into the modern societies where jobs markets are many. Currently, there are very many information industries in the world. Some of them may include manufacturing of computers, law, publishing, media and the education. They are all the current backbones of the world economy. However, this change in the economy due to information shows that we are living in an information society (Webster, 2006,p.25). Information has also change cultures of many people. Through exchange of information among the people, many of them are able to adopt new cultures. Some cultures have spread to other communities because of the information transfer. Cultures of a particular community can be passed to the other communities through television program, emails, radios, or the social networks like Facebook and twitter. Many people have changed their modes of dressing, the way the way they talk, the types of food they eat, and the hairstyles just because of what they have seen or heard about other people in other parts of the world. The environment we are living is saturated with media and the exchange of ideas and information is faster and cheaper. All these features show that we are living in an information society (Webster, 2006, p.26). There is another theory that identifies our society as a postindustrial society. This concept gives many supporting arguments that the society we are living in is a post-industrial type of society. As the information society dwells in service dominance, so does the post-industrial society. This theory was Daniel bell argument. He argues that most of the western countries in eighteenth century were in the pre-industrial society. In the nineteenth century, the society moved to the industrial and currently it is in the post-industrial type of society. In this society, Bell claims that services are dominating the business markets. He describes hoe the industries are going to change their work forces. In this post-industrial society, human power has been replaced by the automated machine power. This is because machines are believed to be more efficient and accurate in their works. They are faster as compared to the human being. Due to the improvement in the work force, the output is going to increase drastically. This is because machines are not subjected to any rest unless there are some technical problems. This use of machines will lead to the increase in wealth to the people who own them and the economy of the country is going to rise. However, post-industrial society is characterized by the use of automated machines to replace the human power to ensure that the output is increased. Information has a great influence in this post-industrial society. Bell illustrates that information is part of the post-industrial society. In the post-industrial society, what count is the information that people in the society have on a particular field. This information is then shared among those who want to implement it in their fields. People who should work in the post-industrial society should be the educated ones. This means they should be well trained for them to be able to work professionally. The way of training them is through exchange of information with the other educated members. This shows that information in essential to post-industrial society. This shows that information society share some features with the post-industrial society more especially in the service sector. Another theory that describes our society is the theory of Manuel Castells. In his theory, he claims that we are living in a network society. He says that network society emerged from the information evolution and capitalism. There is a relationship between the network society and the .information society. Information society passes its services through the network society. For example, when someone is marketing a particular product, the information of the product can be passed through a certain media like some social networks so that it can reach the customers as fast as possible (Castells, 2000, p. 24). Through the network society, people are able to exchange ideas faster and in a very cheap rate. This is due to the introduction of the new social networks that enable people to share information even if they are in far apart. This shows that network goes hand in hand with the information. Without the network, information can be transmitted (Castells, 2000, p.34). There are many similarities between information society and the network and post—industrial society. This is because both the network society and the post-industrial society depend on the information for them to have influence in the whole society. Information forms their bases. However, our society can be seen as information society, network society, and post-industrial society. This is because everyone who lives in it can see all this types of societies. We are using the networks to communicate to the other people in different parts of the world. What we are passing to them is the information that may be useful to them. At the same time, we are replacing the human power with the automated machine power to increase the production of certain products. This shows that we are living in the post-industrial society. Finally, information has created many services sectors that are used to improve our living standards. Information tends to the base of the society and it determines much of what we do. Therefore, I can conclude that the society we are living is information society. Bibliography (1981). The information society. [New York, NY], Taylor & Francis. http://www.catchword.com/rpsv/cw/tandf/01972243/contp1.htm. CASTELLS, M. (2000). The rise of the network society: rise of the network society. Oxford, Blackwell. HARVEY, D. (1990). The condition of postmodernity: an enquiry into the origins of cultural change. Oxford [England], Blackwell. INFORMATION SOCIETY, & EUROPA-KOMMISSIONEN. (2005). Research and technology development in Information Society Technologies: Five-Year Assessment: 199-2003 : Final Panel Report. Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. LYON, D. (1988). The information society: issues and illusions. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press. LYON, D. (1999). Postmodernity. Buckingham, Open University Press. MAY, C. (2002). The information society: a sceptical view. Malden, Mass, Polity Press. PORAT, M. U., & HECHT, M. (1988). The Information society. Alexandria, Va, Distributed by PBS Video. WEBSTER, F. (2006). Theories of the information society. London, Routledge. Read More