0-745-62685-8. r The European Information Society: A Reality. Check, edited by Jan Servaes. Bristol, UK: Intel- lect, 2003. 260 pp., $39.95 paper. ISBN 1-84150-.
The Information Society, 21: 73–75, 2005 c Taylor & Francis Inc. Copyright ISSN: 0197-2243 print / 1087-6537 online DOI: 10.1080/01972240590895955
Review Essay: Critical European Perspectives on the Information Society Reviewed by Bart Cammaerts London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
r The r r
However, when the so-called “new economy/dot.com” bubble burst, more skeptical voices in the debate surrounding the emergence of an information society suddenly gained more respectability. Some economic—as well as state—actors even started adopting a more cautious discourse. On the economic side, the collapse of the “new” economy and the failure of e-commerce, especially in Europe, showed that “old” business—and especially financial—practices, as well as long-standing economic laws, were still relevant and valid (Lennon, 2000). On the policy side, discourses also shifted gradually from blatantly technologically deterministic to a more shaded perspective, taking social contexts and divides into account (HLGIS, 1994; HLEG, 1997; European Commission, 2001). Nevertheless, we can still observe a rather classic continuum in the debate concerning the role of ICTs in society, going from radical discontinuity to theses of (accelerated) continuity, and it is fair to say that the dominant discourse is still firmly situated within the discontinuity paradigm. The three books under review all take a critical stance, opposing these dominant discourses, but within those critical perspectives different positions emerge. The skeptical view that Christopher May (2002) defends with strong arguments is clearly situated on the continuity end of the continuum revolution/evolution. One by one he rejects the most common revolutionary assumptions with regard to the impact of ICTs on society. The first relates to the more general claim that a new age has arrived, which will (or has) seriously alter(ed) our societies—economically, socially, culturally, and politically. The three other claims are all related to this more general assumption, namely, that of the new economy, information politics, and the decline of the state. In terms of the new economy, May concludes that much has changed and is changing, but that these shifts are embedded in a history of technological innovation and a (hyper)capitalist logic. Having dealt with the more general claim of a new era, May proceeds by criticizing the rhetoric that claims the new economy is capable of inducing new
Information Society: An Introduction, by Armand Mattelart. London: Sage Publications, 2003. 182 pp., $27.95 paper. ISBN 0-76194948-8. The Information Society: A Sceptical View, by Christopher May. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2002. xi + 189 pp., $31.95/£14.99 paper. ISBN 0-745-62685-8. The European Information Society: A Reality Check, edited by Jan Servaes. Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2003. 260 pp., $39.95 paper. ISBN 1-84150106-9.
Although there always have been critical and skeptical voices in the (academic) debates on the emergence of a radically “new” information society (Schement & Lievrouw, 1987; Webster, 1995; Calabrese & Burgelman, 1999), those voices were not listened to, disregarded, or neglected altogether. Instead, the coming of the information society was heralded and propagated by (most) academics, governments, and corporate actors alike as having revolutionary effects on almost every aspect of life—work, leisure, politics, capitalist economy, welfare, and so on. As such, the technologies that facilitate the real-time distribution of information and supposedly allow us to communicate more, more quickly, and more cheaply; form part of newly construed myths in support of the dominant “sustainable growth” and “revolutionist” paradigm in capitalist discourses. Within these so-called boom visions, technology is sacralized, and the machine becomes a god, capable of any- and everything, and above all unquestionable (Kubicek et al., 1997). Such techno-optimistic discourses defend the idea that technology as such is neutral and that the rapid spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in society will cause a social, economic, and political transformation of society that will be positive and progressive by default. Authors challenging these deterministic assumptions were often labeled as diehard pessimists or doom thinkers. 73
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social relations, new labor conditions, and new modes of production. When he turns to the impact of ICTs on the political realm, May is more optimistic but nevertheless critical and cautious: “While there remain problems of access and control of any putative public space on the Internet, here I am a little less sceptical of the veracity of the claims for change” (p. 15). He engages with issues such as the use of the Internet by communities of interest and protest movements, exclusion in terms of access, elitism in political fora, e-mutualism and the gift economy, to end by stressing control and privacy concerns. According to May, the Internet has not transformed “the character of politics,” nor produced a “profound transformation of political activity” or the way politics is done (p. 113). Finally, May tackles the interrelated claim that the information society necessarily also implies a “less state” society. While acknowledging that shifts have occurred, he asserts that the state still plays a very prominent role, for example, in providing the necessary investments and resources to support technological innovations or in fixing unavoidable market failures, such as the rollout of digital infrastructure in rural areas. States are also crucial in providing a legal framework to safeguard property rights and regulate the market. It is thus not surprising that, although remaining hopeful, May concludes that there might have occurred some changes “in form,” but continuities “in substance” still structure our societies and the power relations between the different actors in those societies (p. 150). In his recently translated book The Information Society: An Introduction Armand Mattelart (2003) also defends the continuity thesis, using to some degree arguments similar to those put forward by May, but in other regards Mattelart’s approach is very different. Besides a more theoretical approach and references to the philosophical backgrounds of contemporary thinking, Mattelart provides us with an historical approach to information societies and their discourses. He starts off with an in-depth analysis of the cult of numbers that has ruled and guided our societies from past to present. He furthermore contextualizes the claims regarding the emergence of a postindustrial era and society by pointing to the historical antecedents that have made the rhetoric of the march of civilization and progress so strong and almost inevitable, as well as to the role of positivistic thinking, technology, and science in that process. Mattelart’s analysis of the emergence of the computer and his strong emphasis on the role of the cold war and the defense industry again reflect this historical perspective. He then turns his attention to the postindustrial scenarios that are put forward by forecasters, futurists, and experts in terms of sociological impact and (geo)politics. Not surprisingly, Mattelart also focuses on the role of the state in all these processes. Again, the different developments in terms of public policy with regard to technologi-
cal innovation and the tensions between state intervention and the pressure for privatization are well documented. They give an historic account of the different strategies adopted by Japan (cf. MITI); a strongly state-guided and controlled market in France (cf. Minitel & CNIL); state intervention with an emphasis on the “spirit of public service” and control over data; and finally the United States (cf. FCC & SDI) and its deregulated market, which, despite the rhetoric of the minimal state, shows strong government intervention, mainly through defense budgets. In this geopolitical and economic analysis, the role of the European Union (EU) Commission, and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom; in pushing the argument for privatization and liberalization and thereby following suit with developments in the United States is emphasized. Mattelart shows quite rightly that despite the ambitious claims of European and U.S. policy discourses with regard to the social and democratic objectives of the information society, it was, and still is to a large extent, an economic project embedded in a logic of mutual competitiveness and trade. In his last chapter, Mattelart turns to the geopolitical stakes of the information society at a global level. In this context he analyzes its impacts on warfare by mapping out U.S. strategies in terms of psychological operations, using attraction rather then coercion; asymmetrical wars and conflicts; and the role of surveillance on many levels (cf. Echelon). He also critically analyzes the popular myths of the borderless world, frictionless capitalism, and self-regulation. Again the most positive account of ICTs refers to their supporting role in organizing (global) social movements and in mobilizing globally and locally. Mattelart refers, as does May in a more cautious way, to the role of global civil society in the failure of world trade talks, to the global social fora held in Porto Alegre, and to mobilizations at a local level with a global scope or fallout, such as the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. Notwithstanding, Mattelart remains true to his historical account by referring to the French revolution of 1789 and the “ideal that ceaselessly pushes individual societies to seek higher forms of integration in a universal community” (p. 158). In his conclusion, Mattelart warns us against the short-term perspective in dominant discourses regarding the information society and relating to the impact of technologies on societies and the global. Many of the socalled changes, as shown in his historical account, “testify to structural developments and processes that have been underway for a very long time” (p. 161). Contrary to the books of May and Mattelart, the edited book by Jan Servaes (2003), The Information Society: A Reality Check, places itself more or less in a middleground position on the continuity/discontinuity continuum. For one, the different authors do not all share a common perspective in this regard, which is only logical within such a contested debate. Some contributions, such as the
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ones by Peter Johnston and Luisella Pavan-Woolfe, represent a rather institutional EU view. In formulating policy recommendations to (EU) policymakers and directions for future research, Servaes tries to synthesize a newly emerging socially corrected dominant discourse with regard to the information society, accepting the potentials of ICTs in different contexts, but also conscious of its many constraints and unrealistic claims. Such recommendations and middle-ground positions are useful, especially in directing policymakers toward a more shaded and critical perspective on information-society issues and its wider implications on the everyday life of citizens, on labor relations, on the practices of business, and on the functioning of our democracy. Although necessarily more consistent, this engagement with formulating alternatives is somewhat absent from the books of May and Mattelart. The three books are in a way very different with regard to the manner in which they assess the evolutions or claimed revolutions towards an information society, but there are also considerable overlaps or links among them. The critical focus of different contributions in the edited book by Servaes relating to human rights, politics, and the media, as well as the stark differences between public discourses and the social, economic, and political realities at a national, regional, and/or global level, echo some of the arguments put forward by May and Mattelart. In many ways the more descriptive nature of the critical analyses by May and Mattelart are also complementary with the more prescriptive nature of the edited book by Servaes. While Mattelart, for example, gives a thorough historical account of the fetishism of numbers and statistics within (Western) societies, Servaes calls for more qualitative research to come to grips with the complexity of current phenomena: There comes a point when the observations need to be explained and refined, and that can only be achieved by qualitative methods which, although more difficult to implement, although less operational in appearance, provide the indispensable level of detail necessary to appreciate behavioral phenomena of this magnitude. (p. 236)
I would like to end by referring to a quote by John Feather (1995) defining the information society as an information-dependent society and thereby also accepting patterns of both discontinuity and continuity within an historical context: The information dependent society (. . .) combines both profound change and fundamental continuity. It can only be understood in context. Part of this context is historical: the development of writing, printing and systems of communication. Part of it is economic: the means by which systems for the communication of information have become enmeshed in general systems of social and economic organization so that information and the means of its storage and transmission have been commodified. A third part is political: commodi-
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fied information is valorized by more then merely the cost of production an distribution, for there is real power to be derived from its possession and a loss of empowerment caused by its absence. (p. 2)
The strength of Feather’s definition lies in its multidimensional and contextual character that gives room for agency, but is at the same time not ignorant of structural continuities, inequalities, and conflicts of interest at a local, national, and global level. It allows us to combine patterns of discontinuity, such as the increased and more decentralized network capabilities for social movements or the open-source software movement, with patterns of continuity, such as the unequal distribution of access and capabilities, the commodification of information and structural power relations within society. Besides this, his definition also shows that although ICTs might have an impact, this is not always a desirable one, by which I mean not necessarily and automatically moving us further in terms of civil rights, privacy, consumer rights, democracy, quality of life, and welfare. This brings me to the conclusion that the “information society” is foremost a normative concept and thus entails making choices: about which kind of society we want in the future; about how inclusive that society has to be; about the balance of power between state, civil society, and market—choices concerning the scope and meaning of public interest and goods. REFERENCES Calabrese, A., and Burgelman, J. C., eds. 1999. Communication, citizenship & social policy: Rethinking the limits of the welfare state. Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield. European Commission. 2001. e-Inclusion: The information society’s potential for social inclusion in Europe. SEC (2001) 1428, with the support of the High Level Group “Employment and Social Dimension of the Informat ion Society” (ESDIS). Brussels. Feather, J. 1995. The information society: A study of continuity and change. London: Library Association Publishing. High-Level Expert Group. 1997. Building the European information society for us all. Final report of the high-level expert group. Luxembourg: European Community. High-Level Group on the Information Society. 1994. Europe and the global information society. Recommendations to the European Council (“Bangemann Report”). Brussels: CEC. Kubicek, H., Dutton, W. H., and Williams, R. eds. 1997. The social shaping of information superhighways: European and American roads to the information society. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag & St. Martin’s Press. Lennon, D. 2000. Dot.coming and dotgoings—Time for a vituality check? Business Information Review 17(4):198–204. Schement, J. R. and Lievrouw, L. A. 1987. Competing visions, complex realities: Social aspects of the information society. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Webster, F. 1995. Theories of the information society. London: Routledge.
