What history tells us is it is by way of technology a nation can evolve from an “agricultural economy” to an “industrial economy” and from a post-industrial economy to a “service economy.” In an industrial economy, goods and products are sold, what is being sold in the information society is as you can guess - Information.
Manuel Castells (1996), author of “The Rise of the Network Society,” believes in communicating theory by analyzing practices throughout history. The idea is to do more with less and do it by any means necessary. It is progression via technology.
In the United States, we are now witnessing the volatility, which accompanies the rise of information technologies, and telecommunications as our economy goes global. A global economy, however, is not to be confused with a world economy (Castells, 1996) To differentiate between the global economy and the world economy of the past is that “it is an economy with the capacity to work as a unit in real time on a planetary scale” (p. 92). This certainly gives rise to volatility as one nation and the government cannot control an economy of this scale.
It is impossible. Those nations poised to take advantage of the rise in new technology (primarily the United States) are restructuring corporations into a network known as an “information society.” As corporations are restructured into networks of information, they transform the positions of employment as well. The flex timer and networker are examples of that which has replaced the historical full time employee and what is being bought and sold is information rather than goods
As shown with the differentiation of the global economy, Castells identifies common trends and patterns by analyzing differences rather than similarities to arrive at conclusions. Comparing those nations of a “service economy model” which are represented by the United States, Canada and England and those in the “industrial economy model” which are Germany and Japan. The revelation according to Castells is the continued social injustice of workers by way of technology and now the social exclusion of others not able to keep up in the information age of the network society.
