Characteristics of digital and network society: emerging places and spaces of learning

Abstract

Network society is a term by Jan van Dijk which came first into being in 1991 with his book De Netwerkmaatschappij (1991) (The Network Society) and by Manuel Castells in The Rise of the Network Society (1996), the first part of his trilogy The Information Age. It is describing the social, political, economic and cultural changes induced by the spread of networked, digital technologies. The intellectual origins of the idea can be traced back to the work of early social theorists such as Georg Simmel who analysed the effect of modernization and industrial capitalism on complex patterns of affiliation, organization, production and experience. An additional underlying theoretical perspective can be taken from system theory as Luhmann formulated it when he defined societal systems as constituted on bases of communication and interaction (Luhmann, 1996). More recently, in Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, Castells (2011) takes up the subject of networked social movements with reference to the Arab Spring and other movements.