Reflexion about all the change and the consequences brought by the birth and spread of the revolution of the Information Society.

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Heads and tails of the Information
Society revolution
Seminar: Utopias and the Information Society
Giovanna Scarchilli

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Evolutionary way to the information society
Modernization process
● Social changement involving all the principal economical,
political, administrative, family and religious structures
Changement of the meaning of knowledge
● after the introduction of very sophisticated instruments the
knowledge is not only connected to the direct experience
→ simulations, models, abstract theories permit to look at
the future and make decisions for a better and more
developed society.

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F. Machlup (1902-1983)
“linguistically the difference between knowledge
and information lies chiefly in the verb form: to
inform is an activity by which knowledge is
conveyed; to know may be the result of having
been informed.” (1962)

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Ideals that have been premonitory of the
Information Society → philosophers from the
positivist era of the industrial revolution
Vandermonde (1735-1796): prophesys about the democratic
virtues of long-distance communication and connections
between all the people of a country (just after the invention of
the telegraph)
Chavelier (1806-1879) “improving communications means
working towards real, positive, practical freedom; it means
allowing all the members of the human family to take part in
the faculty of exploring and exploiting the planet... it means
creating equality and democracy”

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The Information Society
combination of all the new multimedia and new comunication
instruments that transformed the
● Social
● Occupational
● Political
● Economical
● Cultural
asset of the society
convergence of informatics and telecommunication's
sector and the development of technologies

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Thoughts and perceptions from the beginning to the complete
actuation of the revolution :
Tocqueville (1805-1859):
In this new reality everything
tends to the research of welfare,
abundance; only focus in
material aspects of life.
In the new big consumistic mass
society is difficult to find
untouchable goods like
solidarity, friendship, hope.
Deep separation by traditional
ideals and actual society
→ death of ideals
→ alienation, social
emargination.
Weiner (1894-1964):
disillusion of the ideal that
democracy can be reached
by the new Information
Society.
Informations are not able to
circulate without any
impediments.
In contemporay society the
game of power and money is
an obstacle to the free flow of
informations.

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Bell (1919-2011):
by the book: ”The end of Ideology”
5foundamental mutations in the society :
I. Change in main economy component (from a production
economy to a service economy)
II. Change in the structure of emploiment (pre-eminence of the
professional and technical class) *
III. New core role played by the theoretical knowledge as a source
of innovation and in formulating public policy
IV. Need to stake out of the future by anticipatig it
V. Rapid rise of a new “intellectual technology” oriented towards
decision making
*central role belong now to scientists, universities and research
centre the charismatic class is not any more the manager or
the businessman like in the industrial society

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Touraine (1925):
Different “social game”,
changements of conflict's
nature in the society:
-no more conflict
capital/worker → no more
fight of classes
-global administration, capillar
and apparently less despotic
<<society of alienation which
attracts, manipulates and
integrates>>
Negroponte (1943)
[technoliberist current]
The four cardinal virtues of
the information society
● Decentralization
● Globalization
● Harmonization
● empowerment
are poised to bring down
the archaic Leviathan
(Nation-state)

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Consequences of Information Society revolution
● Change of the
work market
asset
● Control
society
● Delete of phisycal
borders
(globalization)
● Digital divide

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Globalization
double face:
Positive implications
● new cosmopolitan and inedited prospective that everybody can feel
comfortable everywhere
● growing of financial market without borders
● reduction of monopoly in the global market
Negative implications
● On one side globalization can unify on the other can make
deeper the division and the differences
● Less protection of workers rights with a flexible and wider work
market
● Need of a constant deregulation: the mobility of capitals is influenced
by taxes: welfare state=high taxes=capitals run away

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Don't want to be pessimistic but just
realistic..
The information society is a revolution and every revolution is
a change that comes from the need and the ideals of better
life
This revolution is still not global and also very far from reach
the point of equality of the human genre:
many countries and regions of the world still do not
have a national road network and one third of the world's
population has no electricity.
The OECD countries represent the 19% of the world's
population, yet they account for 88% of Internet users.

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Bibliography:
● A. Mattelart: The Information Society:an
introduction
● N.Weiner: Cybernetics:or Control and
Communication in the Animal and the Machine
● A. Touraine: La Societè post-Industrielle
● Tecnoteca s.r.l.it: La Società dell'Informazione
● Dr.ssa G. Paoletti: Percorso evolutivo verso la
società dell'informazione

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Thank you for the attention