This is an account of the two great and conflicting trends now shaping the world: globalization and identity. The information technology revolution and the restructuring of capitalism have induced the network society, and ushered in the globalization of strategic economic activities, flexibility and instability of work, and a culture of real virtuality. But alongside the transformation of capitalism and the demise of statism there has been a powerful surge of expressions of collective identity. These challenge globalization on behalf of cultural singularity and control over life and environment. Manuel Castells describes the origins, purpose, and effect of proactive movements, such as feminism and environmentalism, which aim to transform human relationships at their most fundamental level: and of reactive movements that build trenches of resistance on behalf of God, nation, ethnicity, family, or locality. The fundamental categories of existence, the author shows, are threatened by the combined, contradictory assault of techno-economic forces and transformative social movements, each using the new power of the media to promote their ambitions. Caught between these opposing trends, he argues, the nation-state is called into question, drawing into its crisis the very notion of political democracy. The author moves thematically between the United States, Western Europe, Russia, Mexico, Bolivia, the Islamic World, China and Japan, seeking to understand a variety of social processes that are, he contends, closely inter-related in function and meaning. This is a book of profound importance for understanding how the world will have been transformed by the beginning of the next century.
"Not since Weber has there been such a determined and largely successful effort to bring to bear the results and analytical perspectives of all the social sciences on the evolution of society."
Chris Freeman, University of Sussex.
"These three volumes represent a staggering undertaking. Castells has attempted nothing less than to take stock of our entire contemporary world. He has succeeded beyond any reasonable expectation. Truly global in scope, yet sacrificing nothing of the concreteness and detail without which enterprises of this kind can be empty and unsatisfying, this trilogy must rank as one of the great works of ′grand theory′ of our time." Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia.
"... the first great philosopher of cyberspace, a big thinker in the European tradition who can nonetheless tell the difference between a bit and a browser." G. Pascal Zachary, Wall Street Journal, Europe.
"This is a magesterial effort to paint a comprehensive view of the current–day world society in all its political, economic, social and cultural aspects, as well as its developmental tendencies.... the best candidate available for the role of main reference book for the next century." Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw.
"Manuel Castells, one of the age′s most extraordinary thinkers, is the guru′s guru." The Guardian.
"The Information Age may be the most important analysis of the interaction between technology, economics, politics and religion ever produced." Cliff Barney, Upside.
"The Information Age trilogy stands as a synthesis of Castell′s work over the past two decades. As such, it is an excellent source for students and academics alike, offering a range of accessible and usable introductions to the work of one of the most influential theorists. It highlights the achievements of recent global scholarship, while pointing its readers – whether they be advanced level, undergraduate or graduate students, or more established researchers and teachers – towards exciting and challenging research terrains. It is a book which will accompany us into the new millennium and beyond, helping us to make sense of the puzzling mix of newness and the ever–the–same which is 21st century capitalism. A new world indeed." Alan Latham, University of Auckland.
"So full are the shelves now with shallow and indulgent works on the postmodern condition, essays trapped in their own technological determinism or narrow moralism or political wishful thinking, that it has seemed unlikely that a space would be found for an enduring work of sociology examining the new world as it is changing. But Manuel Castells has found and filled that space on the shelf – and for a long time to come." Anthony Smith, THES.
"A magnum opus if there ever was one, these three books together constitute, in my view, the finest piece of contemporary social analysis to come available for at least a generation. The Information Age, written by Castells at the height of his intellectual power, launches him into the pre–eminence of those whose work must be read by anyone seriously engaged with trying to make sense of the world today." Frank Webster, The British Journal of Sociology.
