The Information Society in Europe Work and Life in an Age of Globalization

by Ducatel, Ken; Webster, Juliet; Herrmann, Werner; Bosch, Gerhard; Chambat, Pierre; Cornford, James; Gillespie, Andrew; Haddon, Leslie; Hepworth, Mark; Jones, Ann; Kirkup, Gill; Lehtinen, Suvi; Rantanen, Jorma; Rees, Teresa; Richardson, Ranald; Ryan, John;

• ISBN13: 9780847695898
• ISBN10: 0847695891
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-03-22
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

For four decades now, information and communication technologies have been seen as principal drivers of socio-economic change. Stimulated in recent years by the Internet, the National Information Infrastructure, and European Information Society strategies, the OInformation SocietyO has undergone a new wave of developments. In its new form, the Information Society directly affects the everyday lives of citizens, provoking concerns about the future of work, information overload, access to continuing education, surveillance, and privacy. This volume examines a wide range of issues at stake in the European Union, from employment and the labor market, to the domestication of technologies in households, to larger implications for political processes and democracy. Extending comparisons to other industrialized countries, it demonstrates that the Information Society is far too diverse and rich to be typified in simplistic dichotomies such as information OhavesO and Ohave notsO and that simple upbeat or pessimistic responses to the new technologies are surely false messengers for the future. The authors discern general social trends and patterns in the way that these very important technologies already affect our lives and work. But they find there is still considerable room to use the technologies as a positive force for social change or, equally, to fail to take up any positive opportunities. This book helps broaden and inform communication technology debates worldwide and will be of interest to academics, students, industrialists, policymakers, and anyone who wishes to better understand the impacts of the new Information Society in Europe and beyond.

Author Biography

Gerhard Bosch is vice president of the Institut Arbeit und Technik, Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and professor at the University of Duisburg, Germany Pierre Chambat is associate professor in political science at the IRIS Research Center (Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire en socio-economie), Universite de Paris Dauphine, Paris, France James Cornford is a senior research associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at the University of Newcastle, UK Ken Ducatel is currently seconded to the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Sevilla, Spain, from his post as senior lecturer in the Management of New Technology at PREST, the University of Manchester, UK Andrew Gillespie is professor of communications geography and executive director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at the University of Newcastle, UK Leslie Haddon is currently a visiting research associate in the media and communications department at the London School of Economics, UK Mark Hepworth is a director of the Local Futures Group, London, UK Werner Herrmann is unit head in the directorate general for education and culture of the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, and visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin Ann Jones is senior lecturer in educational technology at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University, UK Gill Kirkup is senior lecturer in educational technology at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University, UK Suvi Lehtinen, is chief, Office of Information and International Affairs of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Jorma Rantanen, is professor and director general of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland Teresa Rees is professor of labour market studies, at the school for policy studies, the University of Bristol, School for Policy Studies, UK Ranald Richardson is a senior research associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, the University of Newcastle, UK John Ryan is deputy director of the Euro Centre of Excellence, PA Consulting Group, Dublin, Ireland Hanne Shapiro is centre manager of the Centre for Competence Development of the Danish Technological Institute, Aarhus, Denmark Roger Silverstone is professor of media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK Juliet Webster is a research fellow in the employment research unit at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Claudia Weinkopf is senior researcher in the labour market department of the Institut for Arbeit und Technik, Gelsenkirchen, Germany Hans-Jurgen Wei[sz ligature]bach is professor for technology assessment at the University for Applied Sciences, Franfurt am Main, Germany

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Information Infrastructures or Societies?	1	(20)
Ken Ducatel
Juliet Webster
Werner Herrmann
Part I: Space, Economy, and the Global Information Society
Regional Development in the Information Society	21	(24)
James Cornford
Andrew Gillespie
Ranald Richardson
The Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Large Firms: Impacts and Policy Issues	45	(28)
Mark Hepworth
John Ryan
Small Firms in Europe's Developing Information Society	73	(26)
Mark Hepworth
John Ryan
Part II: Work and the European Information Society
New Organizational Forms in the Information Society	99	(20)
Gerhard Bosch
Juliet Webster
Hans-Jurgen Weißbach
Today's Second Sex and Tomorrow's First? Women and Work in the European Information Society	119	(22)
Juliet Webster
Toward the Learning Labor Market	141	(34)
Ken Ducatel
Hanne Shapiro
Teresa Rees
Claudia Weinkopf
Part III: Life in the Information Society
Health and the Information Society	175	(26)
Jorma Rantanen
Suvi Lehtinen
Information and Communication Technologies in Distance and Lifelong Learning	201	(32)
Gill Kirkup
Ann Jones
Information and Communication Technologies and Everyday Life: Individual and Social Dimensions	233	(26)
Leslie Haddon
Roger Silverstone
Computer-Aided Democracy: The Effects of Information and Communication Technologies on Democracy	259	(20)
Pierre Chambat
References	279	(36)
Index	315	(8)
About the Contributors	323