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d a r/lmlitatiue shift in the pattern of econonlic,
social, political and cultural relations within and between states and societies,
rather than a series of extensions and intensifications of more long-standing
trends, that is, part of a qlmntitatiue change. Examples of 'strong globalization'
theories can be found in economics, sociology, political theory
and cultural studies (examples include Urry, 1989; Robertson, 1991; Reich,
1992; Ohmae, 1995; Waters, 1995; Shawv, 1997; Modelski, 2000). IVhat I
wish to do here is to critically appraise the work of sociologist Manuel
Castells and the academics/political activists Michael Hardt and Antonio
Negri as authors who propose that globalization has marked a substantive
shift in the economics, politics and cultures of the 21st century, and consider
some critiques of 'strong globalization' in light of the preceding work in this
chapter.
In his major three-volume work T l ~ eI~ zfor~lrntioA~gze : Ec o ~ r o ~ ~Sloyc,i ety
and Czrltrrre (Castells, 1996, 1998,20OOa), Manuel Castells has proposed that
a lleru ecolzorlly I ~ a se merged since the 1980s that is global, networked, and
informational. While this new techno-economic framework remains capitalist
in form, it is based upon what Castells describes as an inforrlrationnl ratlwr
t l~atat t1 irtdustrial 11zode of cieuelopnte~ttw, here the major sources of productivity
arise not from the application of social labour, but rather from the application
of information technology, and 'the technology of knowledge
generation, information processing, and symbol communication' that
promote 'the action of knowledge upon knowledge itself as the main source
of productivity' (Castells, 1996, p. 17). At the centre of the informational
mode of development are networks, and Castells has termed the emergent
social structure a lretruork society:
Networks constitute the new social nlorphology of our societies, and the diffusion
of networking logic substantially n~odifiest he operation and outcon~esin processes
of production, experience, power, and culture. \Vhile the networking form of social
organization has existed in other times and spaces, the new information technology
paradigm provides the material basis for its pervasive expansion throughout the
entire social structure. (Castells, 1996, p. 469)
I
Castells has proposed that the rise of a network society is linked to a new
regime of accun~ulationo, r production-consumption nexus, that he terms the
i~zfor~natiotnec l~rrologyp nradignr, where information, networking, flexibility
and convergence are inherent outcomes of the pervasive impacts of new ICTs
upon all aspects of economy, politics, society and culture. Castells' metaphor
of the network as the core element of the information technology paradigm is
developed in explicit contrast to theories of 'Fordism', or the technological
and economic systems of mass production and mass consumption, as the
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56 Understanding Global Media
central metaphor of industrial society (Harvey, 1989). The new economy that
is based on ICTs has three fundamental characteristics. First, it is infornlatio~
ml, in the sense that 'the capacity of generating knowledge and processindmanaging
information determine the productivity and competitiveness of
all kinds of economic units, be they fir