The publication of the 4th edition of Professor Van Dijk’s The Network Society speaks volumes for its value across multiple disciplines. This new edition updates his refreshingly global perspective on the growing psychological, cultural, economic and other social issues shaping the future of policy and practice in our increasingly digital world.
This fourth edition of Jan A.G.M. van Dijk’s classic book, The Network Society, clarifies and analyses a wide variety of crucial concepts and contemporary practices, with insight, clarity, analysis, and critique, as well as examples, boxed explanations, and conclusions for each chapter. Topics include social values, digital media capacities, multimedia, network theory, medium theory, network society, technological foundations, platform economy, space and time, social media, digital divide, network power, privacy, digital culture, social psychology of online communication, platform regulation, intellectual property rights, global and developing network societies, and policy perspectives. This is a necessary and accessible textbook for understanding the age of digital networks.
This 4th edition provides interdisciplinary insight into the growing significance of digital media in society. It comprehensively explains why the process of becoming a network society varies worldwide as a result of differing values and responses to the emergence of varied structures, processes and control systems.
If you want to understand or teach the complex, interdisciplinary, and intriguing foundations for and social implications about one of the most significant social and technical transformations in communication history, this is the book. It is wide-ranging, integrative, literate, comprehensive, theoretical and practical, sometimes contrarian, thoughtful, encyclopedic, and moral
Ronald E. RiceArthur N. Rupe Professor in the Social Effects of Mass Communication, University of California Santa Barbara
This new edition provides deep interdisciplinary insight into the significance of new media in our lives. It outlines why we need to understand the frictions between increasingly intelligent machines and the desires of human beings. It does so with great clarity, providing a very valuable measured and critical assessment of the process of becoming a network society
Professor Robin MansellLondon School of Economics and Political Science
Jan Van Dijk draws from multiple theoretical perspectives to characterize historical trends across many sectors of network societies. His conclusion - that the Internet and related new media amplify rather than transform an array of global trends - will inform and stimulate debate about the implications of the communication revolution. The Network Society would be an excellent text for courses on the social role of the Internet and related new media
William H. DuttonProfessor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
The core concept in this book is network 2.0. In a network 2.0 age, the Internet becomes a key channel for social networking. This book truly recognizes societal changes made by technical improvement in digital media. Each chapter is written in a clear and succinct way. It is strongly recommended as a requirement text for both researchers and policy-makers
Han Woo ParkDepartment of Media & Communication, Yeung Nam University, South Korea
