Information Age

This first book in Castells' groundbreaking trilogy, with a substantial new preface, highlights the economic and social dynamics of the information age and shows how the network society has now fully risen on a global scale. • Groundbreaking volume on the impact of the age of information on all aspects of society • Includes coverage of the influence of the internet and the net-economy • Describes the accelerating pace of innovation and social transformation • Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe

In this second volume of “The Information Age” trilogy, with an extensive new preface following the recent global economic crisis, Manuel Castells deals with the social, political, and cultural dynamics associated with the technological transformation of our societies and with the globalization of the economy. • Extensive new preface examines how dramatic recent events have transformed the socio-political landscape of our world • Applies Castells' hypotheses to contemporary issues such as Al Qaeda and global terrorist networks, American unilateralism and the crisis of political legitimacy throughout the world • A brilliant account of social, cultural, and political conflict and struggle all over the world • Analyzes the importance of cultural, religious, and national identity as sources of meaning for people, and its implications for social movement • Throws new light on the dynamics of global and local change