Essay Sample on Mass Media Communications

Chapter 3 Summary, Post-industrial Society: Daniel Bell (in Theories of the Information Society by Frank Webster)

The chapter highlights Daniel Bells post-modernism theory, which best characterizes the information society. Frank Webster opines that Daniel Bell began substituting information society with the post-industrialism concept in his early works, but even after doing so, he did not change the terms of analysis, and thus, it can be derived from the chapter that information society, in accordance to Daniel Bell, is the same concept as his post-industrialism. Even so, after Webster looked into David Bells works, he found that his analysis cannot be sustained. David Bell, from his early book, The Coming of Post-industrial Society (1993), suggested that the United States led the world characterized of a new type of system, which is the post-industrial society (PIS). He traced the development of PIS from pre-industrial to industrial, and finally to post-industrial societies. For instance, Bell highlights that Britain in the early 18th century was pre-industrial, which signifies that it was agricultural. By the late 19th century, Britain was industrial, emphasizing on manufacturing, and currently, it is in its post-industrial phase where services are predominate.

David Bell highlights that PIS emerged from changes in social structures instead of culture and politics and that societies were radically disjunctive in that they were characterized of independent realms, such that culture, polity, and social structures could not influence each other. For this reason, Webster considers Bell in the chapter as an anti-holist as he iterates that societies are not organic in that they are not analysable as single systems and because he rejected holistic/totalistic theories of societies, whether they come from the Left (conceiving capitalism as something that intrudes into every societal aspect), or whether they are more conservative (believing society functions in an integrative way and tends towards an equilibrium).

Webster, in the chapter also highlights that indeed knowledge and information, coupled with technology that accompanies information explosion, have significantly expanded, at least quantitatively. Essentially, technology, information, and knowledge have become central to the daily conduct of life in every society. Frank Webster, in the chapter articulates that even though these aspects are important in our daily lives, there is an unconvincing evidence, or rather argument, for the view that this signals to a new kind of post-industrialism society that sharply distinguishes current society from the past. For this reason, the chapter highlights an extent of Daniel Bells criticism where there are no sharp differences between current and past societies. Therefore, all David Bells talk about developments catapulted by the informational domain that represents the coming of a post-industrial society should be refused. Therefore, accordin to Webster, after a close examination of Daniel Bells assertion about post-industrialisation and division of the society in different realms (those of culture, polity, and social structures), and his division of the economy into various employment sectors, which holds a principle essential to support the entire structure of his PIS model, collapses and can be refuted easily. Essentially, professional occupations, white-collar work, and services have all grown, and all have manifested the need of information, but there is no need of for interpreting their expansion as consequent upon wealth flowing from a goods-producing sector to a separate real of consumption. Instead, services have expanded to secure an interconnected economy, and thus, these service development actually show continuities of the present with the past.

Therefore, Webster, in the chapter provides evidence that can be used to refute claims held in Daniel Bells PIS model. More information between the present and past periods cannot be taken as a signal for new social systems. For instance, the acceptance of the growing importance of information systems and technology and the information revolution is one thing, and the acceptance of the idea postulated by David Bell of new industrial revolution and a new kind of society or new age, is another thing, as highlighted in the chapter. As such, Bells emphasis on the theoretical knowledge, analytically, as well as his assertion of quantitative changes of the increase in information, has greater appeal compared to his from manufacture to service theme of post-industrialism. In fact, that being a quantitative change coupled with profound consequences of control and planning of social affairs is an arresting thought for anyone interested in social change and the possible importance of information in the contemporary world.

Therefore, Frank Webster in the chapter concludes that the writing of David Bell is too vague to be readily applicable, or more precisely, there are serious doubts about the weight and novelty of his PIS work. Frank Webster also highlights the most important and persuasive argument for inhabiting the current information society is that information drives change. Webster thinks that the work of David Bell is persuasive but underdeveloped and distinctively secondary to his emphasis on occupational changes. Primarily, people live in a world where information and information activities are part and parcel of daily organization and labor. Webster also highlights that regarding scope and scale, information has accelerated significantly over the years, and social scientists yearn to explain this development. However, this cannot be interpreted using David Bells PIS assertions. Ideally, Bells work to impose post-industrialism to an information society is not compatible.

Chapter 9 Summary, Information and Post Modernity in Theories of the Information Society by Frank Webster)

In chapter 9, Frank Webster discusses the relations between information and postmodernism, and focusses on various scholars including mark Poster, Jean Francois, and Jean Baudrillard who concentrate on informational aspects of postmodernism. Webster highlights that postmodernism is an intellectual movement and something that everyone encounters in daily lives as we watch television, dress to go out, or even listen to music. He recognizes that what brings together is, in fact, the different dimensions is a rejection of modernist ways of seeing. In the chapter, Webster articulates that modernity is understood as identifying a cluster of changes, such as in science and industry, as well as the ways of thought that are usually referred to as the rise of Enlightenment. In essence, Webster, in the chapter points out that Enlightenment brought about the end of feudal and agricultural societies in the European nations and made a surmountable impact to the rest of the world. Postmodernity, however, announces the fracture of modernity.

Webster articulates that with regard to postmodernism, there are two difficulties that are encountered. First, there is the issue of chronology as modernity starts around the mid-17th century in Europe while modernism is recent as opposed to classical culture. The second issue is that postmodernism does not announce a decided break with modernist cultural principles because at the core of postmodernism is a similar refusal of the concept of cultural representation. Webster also covered the intellectual characteristics of postmodernism. He claimed that postmodernism is seen as an intellectual phenomenon and its major characteristics are its opposition to Enlightenment tradition of thought which searches to identify the nationalities that underlie social development and personal behavior. In fact, postmodernism was influenced heavily by Friedrich Nietzsche and is skeptical of accounts of the development of the world which claim to discern its growth regarding aspects of modernization. However, according to Webster, postmodern thought is suspicious of claims to identify truth. In essence, this is caused be manifest failures of earlier narratives, and thus, it goes beyond mere suspicion of totalizing theories. It rejects theories and endorses the principle of relativism b celebrating the plurality of world accounts by insisting that there is no truth and there can only be versions of the truth.

In the social realm of postmodernisms intellectual critiques, as Webster in the chapter articulates, we encounter postmodern thinkers, as well as circumstances that characterize postmodern life. As with the intellectual attack, the starting point of postmodernism within the social realm is hostility towards modernist principles and practices. As Webster highlights in the chapter, modernism captures aspects such as planning, functionality, and organization. However, a recurrent theme is opposing anything that smacks arrangements ordered by groups, including politicians, planners, and bureaucrats. In the chapter, Webster further articulates that he does not subscribe to the notion of postmodern thought. However, he recognizes the postmodernism elements as a social and an intellectual phenomenon, which include rejecting modernist thought, practices, and values. It also entails rejecting the search for authenticity as everything is unauthentic, rejecting truth on the grounds that there are versions of the truth, rejecting quests to identify meaning as there is an infinity of meanings, celebrating differences, as well as emphasizing pleasure. Postmodernism is also characterized by delight in the superficial, diversity, parody, change, irony, appearance, as well as the recognition of imagination and creativity of ordinary people.

Webster in the chapter also correlates postmodernism and information where he recognizes that nothing is transparent as everything is constructed in language, and thus, must be understood in language. He also highlights that the relevance of postmodernism to consider information is the perception that people do not live in a world about which we simply have information, but we habit a world that is conventionally informational. He recognizes Jean Baudrillard as a postmodernist commentator, who articulates that where the real is abolished, the meaning of signs is lost. Other postmodernists include Gianni Vattimo who contends that the growth of media is vital in heralding postmodernism. Mark Poster, on the other hand, proposes that postmodern age is differentiated from previous societies due to the mode of information. Jean-Francois Lyotard demonstrated how truths claims could be subverted in the postmodern development and informational changes give rise to truth skepticism.

As such, from the chapter, it is clear that a description of the world in postmodernity has value as it emphasizes on the changes fluidity, and skepticism and also on the relationship instability that distinguish modern times from the past. The essence of postmodernist thinking, sign, simulation and inauthenticity, and transformability applied to knowledge and information, as well as recognition of electronically mediated information, is useful to information revolution students. Even so, Webster highlights that it is doubtful that we are genuinely entering a new historical configuration as postmodern characteristics are explainable regarding ongoing and accelerating trends. As such, just like post-industrial theory postulated by David Bell, postmodernism proclaims a new information primacy and arrival of a different type of society.