Socio-Political Dynamics of Information Society
| Author | V. Bijukumar |
| Published date | 01 October 2014 |
| Date | 01 October 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0019556120140407 |
SOCIO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS OF INFORMATION
SOCIETY
V.
BIJUKUMAR
Information Technology is a double-edged sword
and
can be
used
for
humanity
with
great
caution
and
vigil. The
proliferation
of
information helps the human kind
and
at the
same time, it creates some adverse consequences
for
the
society. The advent
of
Information Technology both strengthens
and
weakens democracy
and
politics. The growing instances
of
deideologisation
and
apolitical tendencies
of
elite is a great
concern
for
the survival
of
democracy
in
the era
of
information
society. Though information
society
brought qualitative
changes in society. ii was not able to distribute its benefits to
the cross sections
of
the society.
TWENTY FIRST century is often depicted as the century
of
information
and communication revolution. This revolution is all-comprehensive
affecting the life world
of
every human being either positively or negatively.
As against the earlier sources
of
information such as books, newspapers,
the explosion
of
Information Technology emerged as the new sources
of
information which play an important role
in
the socio-political dynamics
of
the contemporary world. It is argued
that"
...
the image
of
the information
society is one
of
a qualitative changes
in
the nature
of
the western
economies, with an ever-increasing proportion
of
the social structure
consisting
of
professional and technical workers, many
of
whom are
concerned with
the
production, processing
or
distribution
of
information"
(Allan, 1992: 177).
In
Information Society (IS) "production
of
information
values and not material values will be the driving force behind the formation
and development
of
society" (Masuda, 1985: 620). However, the most
significant development
of
information and communication revolution
is
the compression
of
time and space. Giddens, for instance, sees the process
of
time-space distantiation which is developing ever faster
in
the present
period as "late
or
high modernity" (Giddens, 1990). In the socio-political
sphere, the two distinct characteristics
of
IS are dematerialisation and
deterritorialisation.
In
IS
the material goods owned by an individual do no
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