Working-Class Network Society

Working-Class Network Society
Author: Jack Linchuan Qiu
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2023-09-19
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 026254931X

An examination of how the availability of low-end information and communication technology has provided a basis for the emergence of a working-class network society in China. The idea of the “digital divide,” the great social division between information haves and have-nots, has dominated policy debates and scholarly analysis since the 1990s. In Working-Class Network Society, Jack Linchuan Qiu describes a more complex social and technological reality in a newly mobile, urbanizing China. Qiu argues that as inexpensive Internet and mobile phone services become available and are closely integrated with the everyday work and life of low-income communities, they provide a critical seedbed for the emergence of a new working class of “network labor” crucial to China's economic boom. Between the haves and have-nots, writes Qiu, are the information “have-less”: migrants, laid-off workers, micro-entrepreneurs, retirees, youth, and others, increasingly connected by cybercafés, prepaid service, and used mobile phones. A process of class formation has begun that has important implications for working-class network society in China and beyond. Qiu brings class back into the scholarly discussion, not as a secondary factor but as an essential dimension in our understanding of communication technology as it is shaped in the vast, industrializing society of China. Basing his analysis on his more than five years of empirical research conducted in twenty cities, Qiu examines technology and class, networked connectivity and public policy, in the context of massive urban reforms that affect the new working class disproportionately. The transformation of Chinese society, writes Qiu, is emblematic of the new technosocial reality emerging in much of the Global South.

The Network Society

The Network Society
Author: Darin Barney
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2013-05-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0745637094

In The Network Society, Darin Barney provides a compelling examination of the social, political and economic implications of network technologies and their application across a wide range of practices and institutions. Are we in the midst of a digital revolution? Have new information and communication technologies given birth to a new form of society, or do they reinforce and extend existing patterns and relationships? This book provides a clear and engaging discussion of these and other questions. Using a sophisticated model of the relationship between technology and society, Barney investigates both what has changed, and what has remained the same, in the age of the Internet. Among the issues discussed are debates concerning the emergence of a 'knowledge economy'; digital restructuring of employment and work; globalization and the status of the nation-state; the prospects of digital democracy; the digital divide; new social movements; and culture, community and identity in the age of new media. This book provides an accessible resource for a thoughtful engagement with life in the network society. It will be essential reading for students in sociology and media and communication studies. This will be a valuable textbook for undergraduate students of sociology and media and communication studies.

Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy

Network Society and Future Scenarios for a Collaborative Economy
Author: V. Kostakis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2014-08-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137406895

This book builds on the idea that peer-to-peer infrastructures are gradually becoming the general conditions of work, economy, and society. Using a four-scenario approach, the authors seek to simplify possible outcomes and to explore relevant trajectories of the current techno-economic paradigm within and beyond capitalism.

Working Class Heroes

Working Class Heroes
Author: David Simonelli
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 0739170511

In Working Class Heroes, David Simonelli explores the influence of rock and roll on British society in the 1960s and '70s. At a time when social distinctions were becoming harder to measure, rock musicians appeared to embody the mythical qualities of the idealized working class by perpetuating the image of rebellious, irreverent, and authentic musicians.

The Working Class

The Working Class
Author: Kenneth Roberts
Publisher: London ; New York : Longman
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1978
Genre: Great Britain
ISBN:

Monograph on the role of the working class in the social structure of the UK - discusses sociological aspects of trends relating to family life, educational level, life style and political ideology, etc., and considers the importance of trade union membership as a power base for manual workers. References and statistical tables.

The Network Society

The Network Society
Author: Manuel Castells
Publisher: Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2006
Genre: Computers
ISBN:

This volume explores the patterns and dynamics of the network society in its policy dimension, ranging from the knowledge economic, based in technology and innovation, to the organizational reform and modernization in the public sector, focusing also the media and communication policies. The Network Society is our society, a society made of individuals, businesses and state operating from the local, national and into the international arena.

Working Class Community

Working Class Community
Author: Brian Jackson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 202
Release: 1998
Genre: England, Northern
ISBN: 9780415176392

Annotation Originally published in 1968.

Networks of Outrage and Hope

Networks of Outrage and Hope
Author: Manuel Castells
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2015-06-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0745695795

Networks of Outrage and Hope is an exploration of the new forms of social movements and protests that are erupting in the world today, from the Arab uprisings to the indignadas movement in Spain, from the Occupy Wall Street movement to the social protests in Turkey, Brazil and elsewhere. While these and similar social movements differ in many important ways, there is one thing they share in common: they are all interwoven inextricably with the creation of autonomous communication networks supported by the Internet and wireless communication. In this new edition of his timely and important book, Manuel Castells examines the social, cultural and political roots of these new social movements, studies their innovative forms of self-organization, assesses the precise role of technology in the dynamics of the movements, suggests the reasons for the support they have found in large segments of society, and probes their capacity to induce political change by influencing people’s minds. Two new chapters bring the analysis up-to-date and draw out the implications of these social movements and protests for understanding the new forms of social change and political democracy in the global network society.

A Living Wage

A Living Wage
Author: Lawrence B. Glickman
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2015-11-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501702211

The fight for a "living wage" has a long and revealing history as documented here by Lawrence B. Glickman. The labor movement's response to wages shows how American workers negotiated the transition from artisan to consumer, opening up new political possibilities for organized workers and creating contradictions that continue to haunt the labor movement today.Nineteenth-century workers hoped to become self-employed artisans, rather than permanent "wage slaves." After the Civil War, however, unions redefined working-class identity in consumerist terms, and demanded a wage that would reward workers commensurate with their needs as consumers. This consumerist turn in labor ideology also led workers to struggle for shorter hours and union labels.First articulated in the 1870s, the demand for a living wage was voiced increasingly by labor leaders and reformers at the turn of the century. Glickman explores the racial, ethnic, and gender implications, as white male workers defined themselves in contrast to African Americans, women, Asians, and recent European immigrants. He shows how a historical perspective on the concept of a living wage can inform our understanding of current controversies.