Information Society

Front 1

Structure

Back 1

refers to the ways in which society is organized e.g. kinship/family, class, educational institutions

Front 2

Culture

Back 2

refers to ways of life e.g. customs, dress, lifestyle but also to what is produced e.g. art, theatre… seen as high culture but also the everyday…popular culture

Front 3

Information Society Definition

Back 3

used to describe new social order, also known as the service society and knowledge society

Front 4

Key Philospoher of Information Society

Back 4

Daniel Bell

Front 5

Why is the late modern/postmodern era considered an Information Society?

Back 5

Power of machine and factory displaced by a way of life where information plays a major role

Information seen as the basis of the productive system

Front 6

Blue Collar Worker

Back 6

Factory work, manual labor, manufacturing, etc.

no longer the most essential type of employee

Front 7

White Collar Worker

Back 7

non-manual labor often in an office

clerical and professional workers outnumber blue collar and is the fastest growing sector

Higher level white collar workers are specialists in producing information and knowledge

Front 8

Service Worker

Back 8

labor involving customer interaction, entertainment, retail and outside sales, and the like

Front 9

Structure Characteristics of the Information Society

Back 9

1. Society dependent on systematic, coordinated information (codified knowledge)

2. Creators and distributors of this knowledge have power (ex: computer specialists, economists, engineers, Bill Gates, Stock brokers)

3. Such groups increasingly the ones who are leaders of society – industrialists and entrepreneurs of the old system

Front 10

Work Identity

Back 10

At the level of culture ‘work ethic’ is less important, as is the work identity

Emphasis on innovation and right to enjoy work and domestic life – work/life balance

Leisure time and pleasure principle becomes more important