The networked society is an expression coined in 1991 in response to the social, political, economic and cultural changes brought about by the spread of digital information and communication technologies. The intellectual origins of this idea can be traced back to the work of early social theorists such as Georg Simmel, who analyzed the impact of modernization and industrial capitalism on complex patterns of ownership, organization, production, and experience.
Origin
The term "network society" was coined by Jan van Dijk in his 1991 Dutch book De Netwerkmaatschappij. And Manuel Castells in Rebirth (1996), the first part of his Information Age trilogy. In 1978, James Martin used the term "wired society" to refer to a state that is connectedmass and telecommunication networks.
Van Dijk defines the network society as a world in which the combination of social networks and media forms its main mode of formation and the most important structures at all levels (individual, organizational and social). He compares this type to the mass state, which is formed by groups, associations and communities ("the masses"), gathered in physical coexistence.
Barry Wellman, Hiltz and Turoff
Wellman studied the network society at the University of Toronto. His first official job was in 1973. "Network City", with a larger theoretical statement, in 1988. Since his 1979 Community Question, Wellman has ratified that a company of any size is best thought of as a network. And not as limited groups in hierarchical structures. More recently, Wellman has contributed to social network analysis theory with a focus on individuated groups, also known as "individualism". In his research, he focuses on three main aspects of the network society:
- community;
- work;
- organizations.
He states that thanks to recent technological advances, an individual's group can be socially and spatially diversified. Networked society organizations can also benefit from expansion in the sense that having connections with members of various structures helps in solving specific problems.
In 1978 "Network Nation" by Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoffexplicitly based on Wellman's community analysis, taking the title of the book "Networked City". The paper argues that computer communication can transform society. It was remarkably predictable as it was written long before the Internet. Turoff and Hiltz were the progenitors of an early computer communication system called EIES.
Concept
According to the concept of the Castells network society, networks represent a new morphology of groups. In an interview with Harry Kreisler of the University of California at Berkeley, Castells said:
“…if you want, the definition of a network society is a group in which key social structures and activities are organized around the electronic processing of an information network. So it's not just about the obvious forms of organization. The conversation is about social networks that process and manage information and use microelectronic technologies.”
This is what the network society is all about.
The spread of logic fundamentally changes operations and outcomes in processes of production, experience, power and culture. For Castells, networks have become the basic units of modern society. But van Dijk doesn't go that far. To him, these units are still individuals, groups, organizations, though they may increasingly be networked.
This structure goes further than the information network society that is often proclaimed. Castells argues that it is not only technology that defines contemporary groups, but also cultural,the economic and political factors that make up the company. Motives such as religion, upbringing, organizations, and social status form the network society. The group is determined by these factors in many ways. These influences can either uplift or hinder these societies. For van Dijk, information forms the essence of the modern group, and networks form organizational configurations and (infra)structures.
The flow space plays a central role in Castells' vision of the networked society. The elites in the cities are not tied to a certain area, but to the space of flows.
Castells attaches great importance to networks and argues that true power must be found in them and not limited to global cities. This contrasts with other theorists who rank states hierarchically.
Jan van Dyck
He defined the idea of a “network society” as a form of a group that increasingly streamlines its relationships in media networks, gradually supplementing social networks of personal communication. This connection is supported by digital technologies. This means that social networks and media form the main way modern society is organized.
The first conclusion of Dec's book is that the modern group is in the process of becoming a network society. This means that interpersonal, organizational and mass communications are combined on the Internet. People become connected with each other and have access to information and communication with each other constantly. Internet use brings"the whole world" at home and at work. In addition, as the media in the network society, such as the Internet, become even more advanced, they will gradually become the “normal media” in the first decade of the 21st century, as they will be used by large populations and vested interests in the economy, politics, and culture. He argues that paper communications will become obsolete.
Interaction with new media
The concept of the network society is that new methods of communication in the digital world allow small groups of people to gather on the Internet and exchange and sell goods and information. It also allows more people to have a voice in their world at large. The most important concept of the network society and new media is the integration of telecommunication technologies. The second structural feature of the current communication revolution is the growth of interactive connections. It is a sequence of actions and reactions. The download link or offer side of websites, interactive television and computer programs is much broader than the bottom-up searches made by their users. The third, technical, characteristic is a digital code. They are defined by all traits at the same time.
Network society - a structure based on networks controlled by information and communication technologies of microelectronics and digital computer connections that generate, process and distribute information through nodes. The network society can be defined as a social entity withan infrastructure that provides its main mode of organization at all levels (individual, group and public). Increasingly, these networks link all divisions or parts of this formation. In Western societies, the individual becomes the basic unit. In the Eastern states, it may be a group (family, community, workers) connected by networks.
Everyday environment
In the modern process of individualization, a person has become the main unit of the network society. This is caused by the simultaneous expansion of scale (nationalization and internationalization) and its decrease (worse living and working conditions).
The environment of everyday life is becoming less and more heterogeneous, while the range of division of labor, interpersonal communications and media is expanding. Thus, the scale of the network society is both expanded and reduced in comparison with the mass. The sphere is both global and local. The organization of its components (individuals, groups) is no longer tied to specific times and places. With the help of information and communication technologies, these coordinates of existence can be transcended to create virtual times and places and simultaneously act, perceive and think in global and local terms.
A network can be defined as a set of links between elements of a unit. These nodes are often referred to as systems. The least number of elements is three and the minimum number of links is two.
Networks are a way of organizing complex systems intonature and society. These are relatively difficult forms of creation of matter and living groups. Thus, networks are found both in the complex component and in moving systems at all levels. Networks are selective according to their specific programs because they can communicate at the same time.
The problems of the network society
Networks are not new. Microelectronics-based networking technologies are state of the art, enabling an old form of social organization: networks. They have throughout history had a serious problem in comparison with other forms of social organization. Thus, in historical records, networks were areas of private life. Digital network technologies allow them to overcome their historical limitations. At the same time, they can be flexible and adaptive, thanks to their ability to decentralize performance in a network of autonomous components, being able to coordinate all this decentralized activity with a common decision-making goal. Networks are not defined by industrial technology, but unthinkable without them.
In the early years of the 21st century
There is an explosion of horizontal communication networks, completely independent of the media business and governments, allowing for what can be called mass communication in its own right. It's a vast communication because it's spread all over the internet. Therefore, it can potentially cover the entire planet. The explosion of blogging, streaming, and other interactive communications between computers has created a new system of globalhorizontal networks that, for the first time in history, allow people to communicate with each other without passing through the channels established by the institutions of society for socialization.
This group is a socialized bond that goes beyond the mass media system characteristic of the industrial state. But he does not represent the world of freedom as performed by Internet prophets. It consists of both an oligopolistic business multimedia system driving an increasingly inclusive hypertext, and an explosion of horizontal networks of autonomous local, global communications, and, of course, the interaction between the two systems in a complex pattern of connections and disconnections. The network society also manifests itself in the transformation of sociability. However, what is now being seen is not the disappearance of face-to-face interaction or the growing isolation of people in front of their computers.
From studies in different societies it can be seen that in most cases Internet users are more socialized, have many friends and contacts and are therefore more politically active than non-users. Moreover, the more they use the internet, the better they are at participating in face-to-face communication in all areas of their lives. Likewise, new forms of wireless communication, from voice over mobile phone to SMS, wife and WiMax, are greatly enhancing connectivity. Especially for younger populations. The network society is a hypersocial company, not isolation.
Group of people
People introduce technology into their lives, connectvirtual reality and real. They live in various technological forms of communication, formulating them as needed. However, there are major changes in sociability. This is not a consequence of the Internet or new communication technologies, but a modification that is fully supported by the logic built into the network. This is the emergence of network individualism, as social structure and historical evolution stimulate such behavior as dominant in the culture of societies. And new technologies fit perfectly into the mode of building contact along self-selected networks, turned on or off, depending on the needs and moods of each person.
So, the network society is a group of people. And new communication technologies fit perfectly into the mode of building sociability along self-selected networks, depending on the needs and moods of each person.
Result
The result of this evolution is that the culture of the network society is largely determined by the messages exchanged in the complex electronic hypertext created by technologically connected networks of various communication modes. In the network group, virtuality is the basis of reality through new forms of socialized communication. Society shapes technology according to the needs, values and interests of the people who use it. The history of the Internet proves that users, especially the first thousands, were, to a large extent, producers of inventions. However, the technology is necessary. This is how the network society evolved.
