Castells defines a network as being “a set of interconnected nodes” (p.695). Networks are a form of social organisation. For example, the internet is a network of computer networks. Castells talks about the differences between twenty first century networks and older ones. Networks have developed a lot in the twenty first century and as a result of this, there are some differences between twenty first century networks and older ones. Older networks had many advantages but there was one major disadvantage. Older networks were flexible and adaptable like today’s networks but they were not able to manage complications beyond a certain size and this was a major problem. Older networks were really for personal use more so than anything else. The networks were also often outperformed, for example during times of war.
However, during the twenty first century there has been many improvements made to networks, which means that there are now differences between twenty first century networks and older ones. Unlike older networks, twenty first century networks have an excellent performing ability, newer networks can now perform any duty that has been programmed into them and this was not the case with older networks. Nowadays, networks can also expand unlimitedly, unlike before when they could not expand beyond a certain point. This just illustrates that changes have occurred in relation to networks.
The points above show that Castells’ argument that there are differences between twenty first century networks and older ones is true as there has been many improvements made to the way networks function. Also, Castells’ point in his article is favourable because nearly everything changes with time and technology is constantly changing, so of course there would be differences between twenty first century networks and older networks. Therefore, it is not possible to say that there are not differences between twenty first century networks and older ones when technology is constantly evolving.
Bibliography:
Castells M. (2000) Toward a Sociology of the Network Society. Contemporary Sociology 29(5), 693-699.
Katie McKay, 112417258
socialgeographyucc 