Industrialism, informationalism, and Manuel Castells' theoretical framework

Industrialism/Informationalism

Manuel Castells places the beginning of the transition from "industrialism" to "informationalism" in the period between the 1960s and 1970s, when computer technology became more prominently available to the public. While industrialism during the middle of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries relied fully upon machines and the way in which they could provide more speedy production, informationalism relies upon a world of knowledge and information. Industrialism provided the more speedy production of goods, while informationalism enabled the storage of greater quantities of knowledge in a much smaller space.

Indeed, according to Castells, the rise of informationalism resulted in a new society, in which there was a fundamental change in the relationships among production, power, and experience. A new culture emerged from a transformed sense of space and time, which had become virtual rather than concrete.

Along with a new culture, according to the author, informationalism has also resulted in a new form of capitalism. Capitalism in its industrialized form is an economic system that particularly lends itself to the developments of informationalism. In this, the latter has brought about a new capitalism that depends not upon the exchange of goods and services, but rather upon the exchange of information and also upon the interdependence of information itself. In terms of globalization, capitalism now serves an interconnected network of individuals and entities.

A key characteristic of the new economy is the demise of the previous industry-based development of the nation-state and the social contract associated with capitalism. Instead, a new, flexible economy has emerged to accommodate new information technologies. Information technology indeed forms a cycle by which the new economy is perpetuated. This is further made possible by the basic characteristics of information technology, which enables not only flexibility in terms of capital, but also in terms of work hours, individualization and coordination of work, and the decentralization of decision-making. Being global and virtual in nature, the new system of capitalism is more multicultural and international than ever before, being wide open to economic exploitation from a playing field that has become level in the virtual environment. The result is a new, network society.

According to Castells, this is the result of three independent processes that began during the 1960s and 1970s, including the information technology revolution, the economic crisis and restructuring of capitalism and statism, and the rise of social movements such as those fighting for human rights and environmentalism. Whereas interdependence rose with the inception of capitalism, the new capitalism makes this phenomenon even more prominent; the sheer amount of expertise and information is so vast that it is now impossible to exist without the help and support of other human beings.

Castells identifies three key characteristics of informationalism: The first is the internal fragmentation of labor; the second is the social exclusion of those whose worker/consumer value has become obsolete, and thirdly the separation of global capital flow networks and the human experience of working life.