The Network Society

Jan A.G.M. van Dijk (1952) is emeritus professor of communication science and sociology of the information society and still working at the University of Twente, the Netherlands.His main domains of research are the social aspects of the digital media, digital democracy and the digital divide. His best known English books are The Network Society (Four Editions, Sage Publications), Digital Democracy (2000, Sage Publications), The Deepening Divide (2005, Sage Publications), Digital Skills (2014, Palgrave Macmillan), Internet and Democracy (2018, Routledge) and The Digital Divide (2020, Polity Press). Since the year 2020 he is working on an overall work called Power & Technology, combining theories of social and natural power explaining the use of technology in human history. During his long career he was an advisory of many governments and departments as well as the European Commission.

This 4th edition provides interdisciplinary insight into the growing significance of digital media in society. It comprehensively explains why the process of becoming a network society varies worldwide as a result of differing values and responses to the emergence of varied structures, processes and control systems.

• Chapter 1. IntroductionA New Infrastructure of SocietyA Second Communication RevolutionCharacteristics of the Digital MediaCommunication Capacities of Digital MediaThe Nature and Design of this BookChapter 2. Networks: the Nervous System of SocietyWhat is a Network Society?A Short History of the Human WebNetworks at All LevelsCauses of the Rise of NetworksThe Seven ‘Laws’ of the WebFrom Mass Society to Network SocietyChapter 3. TechnologyThe Relationship Between Technology and SocietyTechnical Foundations of the Network SocietyCurrent Technical TrendsChapter 4. EconomyThe First, Second and Third Communications RevolutionMarkets, Hierarchies and NetworksMain Characteristics of a Network and Data EconomyThe Network Producers: From Infrastructure to Service ProvidersThe Rise of a Platform EconomyConsumers: the Pushers and the PulledChapter 5. Social StructureSpace and Time in the Network SocietyThe Blurring Spheres of LivingSocial Networks and Social MediaUnity and Fragmentation: A New Social CohesionThe Instability of the Network SocietyNetworks and Social (In)equalityThe Digital DivideChapter 6. Power and PoliticsWhat is Network Power?Technological PowerSocietal Power: Politics and DemocracyInternet: Between Freedom and ControlPower in the OrganizationPrivacy and Personal AutonomyChapter 7. CultureWhat is Digital Culture?Characteristics of Digital CultureThe Quantity and Quality of Digital Media ContentDigital Youth CultureTrends in Digital Media UseChapter 8. PsychologyPerception and the Digital MediaCognition and the Digital MediaLearning with the Digital MediaThe Social Psychology of Digital Media CommunicationChanges in Human Personality?Chapter 9. LawThe Law Undermined by NetworksWho Rules the Internet?Information and Communication FreedomIntellectual Property RightsThe Right to PrivacyPlatform RegulationChapter 10. Conclusions and Policy PerspectivesGeneral ConclusionsThe Network Society in North America, Europe, East Asia and the Third WorldPolicy Perspectives for the Network Society