THE NATURE OF POWER IN THE GLOBAL NETWORK SOCIETY (Notes on the Margins of the Work of Manuel Castells)
THE NATURE OF POWER IN THE GLOBAL NETWORK SOCIETY (Notes on the Margins of the Work of Manuel Castells)

Summary/Abstract: The newest concepts of Manuel Castells’ theory of power in the global network society have been detected; four forms of this power under different social and technological conditions have been observed (networking power, network power, networked power, network-making power). Such meaningful concepts as power and counter power that constitute one of the central binary oppositions in his theory have been regarded. Special attention to such central concepts of his theory as programming and switching has been paid. The primary problem of programmers and switchers in exerting real power in the global network society has been provided. The new concept of mass self-communication as the communication organized around the Internet and other horizontal digital communication networks which Castells introduces in this work has been appreciated. His views on the complex interrelations between power, networks and communication have been analyzed and his insightful hypotheses in this sphere have been discussed. The present article sets out to evaluate the newest theory of the outstanding scholar of our times and has a genre which may be called «notes on the margins» of Manuel Castells’ «A Network Theory of Power».

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