Information Society

Are we truly in the era of the information society? I think not. We are still following the rules and regulations of the second wave and they show no sign of change. The super structure of society has not changed much and I do not forsee it doing so. However there are some exceptions to that. For instance, in Pakistan a country with few libraries and few information resources, the advent of the internet created a boon of information. Access to research papers, journals and other forms of information have changed the way research is conducted in Pakistan. The other thing that has happened now is that even villagers have more awareness of the world around them due to a proliferation of television channels from around the world that they can view now. They now know for instance the lifestyles of the rich in Pakistan and they are increasingly aware of the imbalance in wealth distribution in the country and resentment is growing. One result is a slide towards religious parties. So while the structure of society may remain unchanged, tremors are increasing.

I do believe that while modern communication technologies may change the way we live on a daily basis, the overall power structure of society will not change much. So, while globalization in the workforce is taking place due to new telephony technology and outsourcing is now the new mantra, this is not having an impact at a societal level. So while there is a new middle class that works in call centers in India, their emergence is not changing Indian society power structures significantly. There is growing consumerism and a better luxury goods market there but other than profits for certain companies, civil society there is continuing to function as before.

Technological Determinism

This is my first post. I began the class late and now I am catching up with all the work.

I found the readings on technological determinism to be quite fascinating. The first question that is nagging me is the following: Does technology really determine history by changing the basic structure of society ? One example is the impact of the green revolution in India. Scientists developed varieties of seeds that allowed crop yields to increase dramatically. In theory the impact of this should be overwhelmingly positive but that was not quite the case. When these seeds were imported to India and adopted there in agricultural practices, several things happened. Small farmers were forced out and large farms became the norm. Genetic diversity of crops was reduced significantly making them more susceptible to blights. So the structure of society there did change because of the introduction of a new technology.

In the context of this class, I am curious about how the spread of the internet and ubiqituous personal communication devices will change the way we live. Will the internet democratize society further? Will the freer spread of information give more power to people than before. I somehow think not for the most part in the world. However, certain parts of the world, those that were previously very deprived now have access to more information than ever before and that is having an impact on the way that people think.