A history of theories of "Information Society"

Three periods of the "Information Society" theorisation

(Tapper 1998)

1.  From late 1940’s onwards: Information economy as an economy of different nature

- Studies of information sector in the economy and analysis of information enhancing economic growth

2.  From 1960’s onwards: Analysis of post-industrial society (or service society)

- Discussion about the change of society from industrial modern society to a new and different kind of society

3.  From 1980’s onwards: Discussion about the evolution of modernity into "another modernity"

- Emphasis on global economy and globalization based on information and communication technology

- The concept of an information society was introduced by economists and sociologists as a model to describe the change from an industrial to another kind of society

- Roots: The discussion about the industrial society in the late 1950’s

- liberal sociologists tried to find the features that were common to both the capitalistic societies of the west and the socialist societies of the east (Raymond Aron & Ralf Dahrendorf)

- “the end of ideology” (Bell 1962), “post-materialism” (Inglehart 1977)

Bell (1973): The Coming of Post-Industrial Society

Bell identifies three phases in the history of the societies:

1.  Pre-industrial

2.  Industrial

3.  Post-industrial

This model is equal to an earlier model by Colin Clarke ("Condition of Economic Progress", 1951):
Three stages of production:

1.  Primary production

2.  Industrial production

3.  Service production

Combining these two models, we have a model of the development of societies by their mode of production:

1.  In traditional (or pre-industrial) societies the main part of the workforce is in the primary production

2.  In modern (or industrial) societies the main part of the workforce is in the industrial production

3.  In post-industrial societies the service economy (or "tertiary sector") is the most important

Bell: structural changes in the PIS:

·      The establishment of the centrality of theoretical knowledge

·      The change in the nature of the economy from an industrial to a service economy

- automation and rationalisation of the work-process increases wealth and releases people from industrial work to the service work.

According to Bell there are five key elements that characterise the post-industrial society:

·      An economic sector that has changed from producing goods to producing information and services

·      An occupational distribution dominated by professionals and technical class

·      An axial principle by which the centrality of theoretical knowledge is the source of innovation and policy-making

·      A future orientation: the control of technology and technological assesment; and

·      A decision-making process that depends on the creation of a new "intellectual technology"

Three revolutions inside the industrial societies which led to the post-industrial society:

1)  steam

2)  electricity

3)  information (esp. computers)

Bell: post-industrial society is an information society

Criticism:

Gershuny (1979): After the Industrial Society? The Emerging Self-Service Economy

- Instead of buying services, people want to buy machines that do the service for them -> production of material goods continues to be important

- The application of theoretical knowledge to production was already important in the industrialism

State policies in the 1990’s (Varis 1996)