Castells argues that the development of new information and communication technologies has led to the emergence of a network society. Key aspects of this network society include the creation of far-flung social networks sustained by ICTs, the restructuring of economies to accommodate open markets, and cultural movements promoting freedom in the late 20th century. Castells also discusses how networks involve nodes that can receive and send messages, how they stretch across boundaries, and how power can be difficult to locate within networks.

1. THE NETWORK SOCIETY –
MANUEL CASTELLS
SUBMITTED TO- DR. DEEPAK
KUMAR
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
SUBMITTED BY- YADWINDER
SINGH
M.PHIL.
1845103
Punjabi University, Patiala

2. INTRODUCTION
• Castells argue that transformation in communication leads to the
spread of globalisation and the development of new kind of society
The Network Society.
• The concept of the network society is closely associated with
interpretation of the social implications of globalization and the role
of electronic communications technologies in society. The definition
of a network society given by the foremost theorist of the concept,
Manuel Castells is that it is 'a society whose social structure is made
up of networks powered by micro-electronics-based information
and communications technologies.'
• As Castells shows in his book, historically, there have always been
social networks: the key factor that distinguishes the network
society is that the use of ICTs helps to create and sustain far-flung
networks in which new kinds of social relationships are created.

3. CONTINUED…
• According to Castells, three processes led to the emergence of this new
social structure in the late 20th century:
1. The restructuring of industrial economies to accommodate an open
market approach
2. The freedom-oriented cultural movements of the late 1960s and early
1970s, including the civil rights movement, the feminist movement and
the environmental movement
3. The revolution in information and communication technologies

4. NODES
• Networks involve multiple links between different Nodes
• Nodes are centres within communication networks that can
both receive and send message.
• Individuals can be seen as nodes, but nodes can take non
human forms as well – for example, communication centres,
business or government departments.

5. NATURE OF NETWORKS
• Networks can stretch across National and Cultural Boundaries,
no clear boundaries.
• They are interconnected with numerous other networks.
• Location of Power can be harder to pin down in networks.
• The horizontal connections within networks can make exercise
of hierarchical authority more difficult.
• Social change also occurs easily in networks.

6. DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
• The privatisation of internet, the development of new software, the
increased capacity of telecommunication systems and penetration of
internet into more and more aspects of social life have all led to
globalisation
• Digital technology is also spreading in developing nations.
• There are now multiple ways of accessing the internet on a wide range of
devices.
• New technology is unlike traditional mass media as involves interactive
communications.
• Mass–Self Communication – communicating or interacting with large
number of other people without the use of traditional mass media.

7. CONTINUED…
• In this this process “spaces of virtual reality” has
developed.
• In it individuals can lead virtual lives.
• Virtual reality does not only impact on the virtual world; it
becomes linked to non-virtual reality in number of ways.
• Interactions have been increasingly hybridised, with
distinction between real life and virtual life being blurred.

8. SPACE AND TIME
• The globalisation resulting from the development of new
technologies has led to ‘a transformation of space and time in
the human experience’.
• He sees space being intangible and based on experience rather
than on physical reality.
• Cities have developed as spaces where physical proximity can
assist with the coordination of human activates.
• Castells calls physical proximity the Space of Contiguity.

9. CONTINUED…
• Physical space is not the only way of exercising simultaneous
interactions with other humans.
• Since the introduction of digital communications one can
experience a sense of proximity through the use of messaging,
skype, etc.
• This space castells calls the Space of Flows.

10. CONTINUED…
• Physical Proximity, The Space of Contiguity, remains important
and the world’s population is increasingly concentred in major
metropolitan regions.
• This is partly because they are key centres or Nodes within global
networks.
• Particular metropolitan areas have infrastructure to allow them to
act as key centres to particular network.
• They provide the highly sophisticated communication necessary
for the space of flows, and physical proximity necessary for the
space of Contiguity.

11. CONTINUED…
• Nodes are connected to the Nodes of global importance.
• Globalisation therefore simultaneously produces global
networks and distinctive localities.

12. CONTINUED…
• Castells argue that experience of time also changes in network
society.
• In industrial age, clock was dominant as employers regulated
the time that employees worked.
• But in network society Timeless Time is becoming more
important.
• With timeless time the significance of time is eroded.
• People has to live using Flexi-Time moving between different
regimes of time to deal with competing demands of time

13. CONCLUSION
• By arguing that society primarily consists of networks, castells
suggest that advanced globalisation require a new approach to
sociological theory. If there are so many interconnections
across the globe that do not respect national or institutional
boundaries, then perhaps it is time the concept of ‘society’ is
seen as secondary to the concept of networks.

14. REFERENCES
• Ritzer,G. (2010) Sociological Theory. New Delhi: Rawat
Publications.
• Castells,M. (2000) The Rise Of Network Society. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers.
• Haralambos & Halborn. (2011) Sociology Themes and
Perspectives. New Delhi: Harper Collins.