Networks of outrage and hope : social movements in the Internet age / Manuel Castells.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Castells, Manuel, 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Internet--Social aspects.

Internet.

Social movements.

Technology and civilization.

Information technology--Social aspects.

Information technology.

Information society.

Information networks.

Physical Description:

xiv, 300 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2012.

Summary:

This book is an exploration of the new forms of social movements and protests that are erupting in the world today, from the Arab uprisings to the indignadas movement in Spain, and the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US. While these and similar social movements differ in many important ways, there is one thing they share in common: they are all interwoven inextricably with the creation of autonomous communication networks supported by the Internet and wireless communication.

In this timely and important book, Manuel Castells - the leading scholar of our contemporary networked society - examines the social, cultural and political roots of these new social movements, studies their innovative forms of self-organization, assesses the precise role of technology in the dynamics of the movements, suggests the reasons for the support they have found in large segments of society, and probes their capacity to induce political change by influencing people's minds.

Based on original fieldwork by the author and his collaborators as well as secondary sources, this book provides a path-breaking analysis of the new forms of social movements, and offers an analytical template for advancing the debates triggered by them concerning the new forms of social change and political democracy in the global network society. Book jacket.

Contents:

Opening: Networking Minds, Creating Meaning, Contesting Power 1

Prelude to Revolution: Where It All Started 20

Tunisia: "The Revolution of Liberty and Dignity" 22

Iceland's Kitchenware Revolution: from financial collapse to crowdsourcing a new constitution 31

Southern wind, northern wind: cross-cultural levers of social change 44

The Egyptian Revolution 53

Space of flows and space of places in the Egyptian revolution 56

State's response to an Internet-facilitated revolution: the great disconnection 61

Who were the protesters, and what was the protest? 66

Women in revolution 69

The Islamic question 73

"The revolution will continue" 76

Understanding the Egyptian revolution 78

Dignity, Violence, Geopolitics: The Arab Uprisings 93

Violence and the state 97

A digital revolution? 103

A Rhizomatic Revolution: Indignadas in Spain 110

A self-mediated movement 116

What did/do the indignadas want? 122

The discourse of the movement 125

Reinventing democracy in practice: an assemblyled, leaderless movement 128

From deliberation to action: the question of violence 133

A political movement against the political system 136

A rhizomatic revolution 140

Occupy Wall Street: Harvesting the Salt of the Earth 156

The outrage, the thunder, the spark 156

The prairie on fire 162

A networked movement 171

Direct democracy in practice 178

A non-demand movement: "The process is the message" 185

Violence against a non-violent movement 188

What did the movement achieve? 191

The salt of the Earth 197

Changing the World in the Network Society 218

Networked social movements: an emerging pattern? 221

Internet and the culture of autonomy 228

Networked social movements and reform politics: an impossible love? 234

Beyond Outrage, Hope: The Life and Death of Networked Social Movements 244.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780745662855

0745662854

9780745662848

0745662846

OCLC:

795757037