All these transformation have one thing in common and that is control. The fascination with the ability of these new technologies blinds us to the amount of control it places the other hands of the capitalists. The question is whether this was unintentional or a residual effect. According to Webster (2002) there has been a shift from personal capitalist control to impersonal capitalist control (Webster, F 2002: pp 117)
Competitiveness has also lead to the linking of businesses in order to grant the market some sort of predictability and remove the element of choice from the consumers. By this I mean companies and firms that are linked via the network society relay information hence ensuring a standard output and products equality hence limiting the consumers choice and reducing competitiveness. In the “Rise of the network society, Castells (1996) describes the emergence of the ‘horizontal corporation’ to meet the challenges of globalization, something which represents the process of transformation of corporations into networks Castells M 1996: pp 115); wherein alliances are constantly being made and unmade, and where the key players are those infused with the ‘spirit of information’ (Castell, M 1996: pp195) and thereby ease with the networking processes that are crucial to success. There is a shift from the product to the production process.
With access into the social environments of people the network society possess the ability and thereby ease with the networking process that is crucial to success. This network does not operate on it’s own but by labour that is highly educated and, above all flexible, able to learn and relearn wherever necessary. They do not a particular set of skills, other than the skill to develop skills where they are needed. Kumar (1996) calls these workers ‘knowledge workers.’
The network society requires a labour force that meets its demands. Considering the fact that the crucial commodity or even currency if we can call it that is information, we therefore require labour that is highly educated and above all flexible, and able to learn and relearn what is necessary. The worker has to evolve in order to accommodate the job. We therefore see again that like any other capitalist system output is the main priority and whether or not it suits the labour force is not taken into consideration. These workers do not posses a particular set of skills, the only skill they posses is the skill to develop skills where they are needed. Research undertaken the Occupational Research Unit of the university of Wales Institute of Science and Technology found that there is an urgent growing need for people at work to be far more adaptable than present (Downs, S. 1982: pp9) and on this basis, it is argued that training must increasingly focus on skill transfer, skill ownership and learning to learn. This hence emphasises a shift form what has to be learned which is the product to how it is learned which is the process.
According to Castells (1996) there is a shift from agricultural industry to a shift in the services industry. In his study of first world countries, it is evident that there was a phasing out of agricultural employment. There was a steady decline in traditional manufacturing employment. There was a rise of producer and social services; businesses seemed to be more service orientated with health services following. Service activities had become a major source of jobs with the increased diversification. These changes hence brought about evident rise in managerial, professional, and technical jobs, which made up the white-collar workers, which made up the clerical and sales workers. With this rise in the service sector employment there was an inevitable rise in stability in that sector. However this, lead to an increase in both upper and lower levels of the occupational structure. There was an upgrade of the occupational structure in terms of jobs that require increased skill and higher levels of information. (Castells, M. 1996: pp229)
The dominance of service sector employment through information technology has lead to significant managerial developments. Call centres and telecentres are workplaces, which are designed and operate with the aim of providing telephonic customer service. These workplaces depend upon state of the art communication and information technology. (Wyatt et. al, 2000: pp184) By incorporating these technologies into the once purely human service the employer is able to monitor the agents efficiency and output in terms of customer interaction. The demand of for customer service outside working hours (Wyatt et.al 2000: pp185) has actually reshaped the working day of the call centres agents and in doing so they have reshaped and it could be said that they have taken control of their social patterns. The ambition to make every form of work controllable in order to gain a clear indication of efficiency, which can be accounted for on balance sheets, has been an ongoing process since the industrial revolution. This goal of achieving some sort of measurement system has always been achieved through technology. The question is can we attach any form of economic valuation system to a human service? The technology that is used in telecentres are being specifically designed to supply demands for technology which will be able to ‘generate high levels of management information on performance of the individual telecentre agents’ (Wyatt et.al 2000: pp186) The unpredictability of the of human element in the workplace has been a taunting management ever since the workplace came into being and attempts of gaining control has been pursued ever since. Here again we see the controlling feature of a capitalist system. The question lies whether this was the reason for the transformation. Previous control of efficiency and output was gained trough the commitment of the worker which was determined by job satisfaction, in these call centres however the commitment toward the job is gained through control which is achieved by the monitoring which are common on a Fordist assembly line. In a common factory setting the worker is required to detach himself from his emotional state and attitude and adopt one that will allow them to perform the job most efficiently, this system is being brought into service sector employment by training the agents on specific techniques and attitudes in order to achieve maximum output. There isn’t so much a move from manufacturing sector employment to service sector employment but merely a transformation of the service sector to ensure the control and output principals that the manufacturing sector works under.
With this flexibility that the network society demands comes the issue of weakening of social intuitions and organisations that served to speak for the worker and even represent the worker. With outsourcing and contractual employment there has been a significant reduction of representation power. The fragmentation of work makes the worker to an extent expendable hence removing their control of the job itself. This fragmentation coupled with the outsourcing of labour renders unions and those they represent powerless. Castells also claims that the union’s inability of unions to adapt to the changing worker and organisation has rendered them powerless. He goes on to emphasis that the new network technologies could be just as helpful the unions as it is to organisations in that they can organise labour anywhere and any time. (Castells, M.1996: pp278).
There is said to be strength in numbers, and the capitalist system has noticed this and adopted the warfare strategy of ‘divide and conquer’ by this I mean there has been a polarisation of the individual in the work environment. With heightened surveillance options at their fingertips management has no need to have workers collectively together to ensure supervision hence work is organised to ensure greater autonomy. It is this transformation of work, ‘the individualisation of labour’ that Castells (1996) underscores in his work on the ‘Information Age’ (Castells, M. 1996: pp265). Castells emphasises that this technological transformation especially exacerbates the trend towards increased ‘flexibility’ of labour. This flexibility is hidden behind the illusion of home-based work and the ability for a work environment to co-exist in a social environment. Capitalism deceptive nature is thus shown again.
From control of the occupational environment capitalism goes to the next stage with an attempt to control the culture of society. Culture plays a vital role in the way we think which determines what we consume. The capitalist system has used technology of the ‘Network Society’ to shape our cultures to suit their needs and objectives. It is an indirect way of shaping and directing our thoughts and emotions.
According to Castells our culture is shaped by communication. Previously our languages were our form of communication in the written and heard form, however with the emergence of network technologies the earliest of which was the television (networked through the media channels) the heard written and seen are combined in order to grant the ability to convey views, beliefs and emotions (Castells, M. 1996: pp328-329).
Through his writing on ‘The culture of real virtuality’ Castells shows how communication technologies have become part of our lives (Castells, M. 1996: pp327-375). He however fails to address the avenue of the liberation of society due to the abundance of information and media avenue available. I on the other hand feel that it should be address due to the fact that people have that frame of mind instilled in them which is misleading. Sure there is the element of choice in the media and we choose what we watch, but the communication industry, mainly the media (which includes the internet) is a business like any other and it will broadcast what is profitable. This profitability is determined by information on individuals. It acts on human characteristics such as curiosity and amazement. So whatever amazes us and whatever we enquire about is always best for us. By feeding human character traits our thoughts and in turn our cultures are reshaped to that which exists in the virtual world and suits the capitalistic system. Pierre Levy’s book, ‘Cyber Culture’, (Levy,P : 1997) provides one of the most coherent and persuasive expressions of the contemporary technocultural vision. Levy argues that knowledge is no longer abstract but has become the visible and the tangible expression of the individual and groups who inhabit it; ‘interactive networks’ work towards ‘the personalisation or incarnation of knowledge’ (Levy, P. 1997: pp184).
This ability to reshape our cultures in effect influences and affects our political ideals. The ability of the Networks and Society to be accessed by politicians has made it a vital breeding ground for election campaigns. The media space has become a battlefield for politicians with weapons such as negative messages, scandal, spin, political marketing and legitimacy (Castells, 1996 : pp362).
The political struggle is dependent on the media to such an extent that the media determines consequences, actions and ideals. (Castells. 1996 : pp476). This leads me to the issue of access to the media; by this I mean that media campaigns cost allot money and if the outcome of a campaign is determined by the best media campaign, which in effect depends on the availability of capital, we can assume that those with the money determine political outcomes.
We covered all the elements of the network society except for the concept of time which is linked to Castells theory of the ‘space of how’s. I have left these two aspects to the end because they actually reveal the capitalist ambitions for control through the network society.
Time and space has always been factors of production, which have only been regarded as such fairly recently. New technologies and initially compressed geographical space by reducing relay time of communication. ‘…The whole ordering of meaningful events looses its internal chronological rhythm, and becomes arranged in time sequences depending upon the social context of their utilisation’ (Castells, M. 1996: pp462). Here we see that time itself, an uncontrollable element of human existence, which was thought to be uncontrollable is manipulated to suit consumer trends in order to achieve the ultimate goal of the capitalist system. The capitalist system has thus gained control of the time, which governed the consumers purchasing habits. With new network technologies there is now a twenty-four hour day, which does not consist of, designated times to do specific tasks (Evident in the flexible workers of the network society).
This pursuit for control has lead to the relinquishing of control that space has over us. This has lead to the movement from Castells (1996) ‘space of places” to the ‘space of flows’ (Castells, M. 1996: pp276). Space has been a concept, which has been used to emphasize ‘time simultaneity’ which is based on physical distance between actions, which determine the ability to accomplish various tasks simultaneously. This concept however has changed with technology in the sense that the ability to accomplish more than one task at the same time is no longer bound by vicinity between tasks (Castells, M & Inch. 2003: pp56). This space of flows is not just about telecommunication technology but also the pursuit of technology to link places together to achieve the common ambition (eg. Stock Markets). Castells argues that the reason access to this technology in order to form part of the network is not a matter of availability but a matter of choice (Castells, M & Inch. 2003: pp58). He emphasises the fairness of the space of flows by stating that the first is linked to the third world via the space of flows. This justification however is sceptical and contradicts with his theory of nodes (Castells, M. 1996: pp413).
Castells ‘ space of flows’ is made up of nodes. These are information gathering, communication and analysis hubs. These nodes are dependant upon the Network and their inclusion in the network is determined by their value to the network (Castells, M. 1996: pp413). My argument lies in Castells (1996) mentioning the link between the first world and third world, if inclusion into the network is determined by the value to the network then it isn’t a matter of fairness but a matter of exploitation, something that has been common in capitalist systems.
Under ideals and principles of a capitalist system, from evidence throughout the essay we can see capitalism’s fundamental tool, which is control, has been a result or cause for the various elements of the Network Society. So as a concluding point, I would say that the Network Society is a more advanced form of capitalism, which is international, and carefully hidden.
IOLS 2B
Technology and Work Essay
Name : Kubendran Govender
Student Number : 202522553
Topic : Castells’ Network SocietyREFERENCE
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Castells, M. (1985) ‘High Technology, space and society’ sage publications, inc
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Castells, M (1996) ‘The rise of the network society’ Blackwell publishers.
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Castells, M and Inch (2003) ‘Conservation with Manuell Casteller’- blackwell publishers.
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Levy, P (1997) ‘Cyberculture’ Paris, Edisions Odile Jacob
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Stanier, T (1983) ‘the wealth of information: a profile of the Post industrial economy’ London Methusen
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Susser, I (2002) ‘the Castells reader on cities and social theory’ Blackwell publishers.
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Sylvia Downs, (1982) ‘who learns whom training and development’
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Visvanathan, S (2001) ‘knowledge and information in the network society’ 15/09/03
- Webster, F (2002) Routledge
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Wyatt et al (2000) ‘technology and inequality’ Routledge
