The Internet and Social Change

Starting with only four hosts in 1969, the Internet consisted of over 56 million hosts by the end of 1999. In 1993, the World Wide Web was only 130 sites strong; six years later it boasted more than seven million sites. Despite this explosive growth of the Internet and computer technology, little is known about the social implications of computer mediated communications. In this work, the author uses social science theory to evaluate the social transformations taking place today. She asks whether human beings use the Internet to change basic social institutions, and if so, whether these changes are a matter of degree only or represent an overthrow of previous modes of organizing. The work examines the rise of the Internet as the logical extension of the Industrial Revolution and urbanization consistent with the basic tenets of modernity, and offers a new conceptual framework through which to understand the Internet.

ISBN 0786410191   Pages 240 ISBN13 9780786410194 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher McFarland & Co Inc   Weight (grammes) 336 Imprint McFarland & Co Inc   Published in Jefferson, NC Format Paperback   Height (mm) 230 Publication date 30 Sep 2001   Width (mm) 152 Library of Congress 2001030695   Spine width (mm) 13 DEWEY 303.4834   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC21

		Introduction		1
Ch. 1		Communications Technologies: A Chronicle of Knowledge		13
Ch. 2		Netropolis: The Internet as City in Virtual Society		46
		Preface to Part II		75
Ch. 3		The Nation-State in the Virtual World		79
Ch. 4		The Corporation in the Virtual World		121
Ch. 5		Church, University and Family in the Virtual World		151
Ch. 6		The Self in the Virtual World		186
Ch. 7		Virtualization and Net Logic: Concluding Remarks		216
		Bibliography		221
		Index		231

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