Conclusion to Castell’s Reading ‘Toward a Sociology of a Network Society’.

To conclude our unique analysis on the reading of Castells, we endeavour to provide many critiques and examples of how technology has changed society. ‘We have entered a new economy” (Castells p.693).  The world has this unique ability to adapt to any given situation, it can be seen on any given day as technology continues to develop. In the last two decades communication has become effortless, immediate and extremely cost-effective for all parties concerned. Society has moved from an age whereby once communication involved sitting at a table and hand writing a script, which was then posted on half way around the world. This alone may take a number of days to a number of weeks. To then looking at  a society where immediacy is expected. In an instant, an important document can be e-mailed from Ireland and arrive in Japan with minimal expense encountered. This too is a revelation of Globalization.

The Internet acts as a medium for business to occur. The ‘global economy network is made up of financial transactions, production sites, markets, and labour pools which are powered by money, information and business organization’ (Castells p.695) Without money, information and business organization  what would be left? If one of these key elements were missing our  society would not be the same place it is today.

Networks are so multi-dimensional, they comprise of so many elements, but yet seem so simple to the naked eye. Yet ‘networks remain a powerful component of multidimensional social change’ (Castells p.695). This social change may seem non-existent to the generation of today, but it is a huge change in the very recent past. We are situated in an era of rapid change and development.

 

Bibliography

Castells, M., (2000) ‘Toward a Sociology of the Network Society’. Contemporary Sociology,. 29 (5): 693-699

 Ailish Murphy

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Time-Space Compression

Time-Space Compression

What is ‘time-space compression’ one might ask? As a geographer in this post-modern world, it vital we use linking terms to create meaning. To answer this fundamental question I will use the link of relationships. I would define ‘time-space compression’ as the relationship between space and time.  Or even take Massey’s  (1994) example of ‘… speeding up, and spreading out.’

I like to think of ‘time-space compression’, by using a simple example from my childhood. I believe it simplifies the complex dimensions of the term. Using the sun as a source of energy, its rays stretch out and hit the earth, each location sees, and maybe feels the sun, but no two locations receive the same heat.  This can be applied to the theories of globalization, and time-space compression. Barriers still exist to prevent places from ‘speeding up, and spreading out’ as quickly as others. And like the example of the sun, without the energy coming from one extremely powerful source (e.g. globalized world economy / the sun) the global south remains trapped by barriers, preventing the creation of one ‘global village’.

‘Time-space compression’ is a term that has been frequently used in our everyday language for a number of decades. However, I put forward the argument that it is becoming more and more relevant than ever before. Nowadays, a person who is thousands of miles away can be seen and heard in an instant. The physical distance is squashed by technological advancements in the past decade.

Although Massey (2012) argues that ‘time-space compression… is left curiously unexamined’, I disagree, I believe it is a term that has been unravelled on many occasions. Even though somewhat outdated, Harvey (2000) presented the theory that ‘… an intense phase of time-space compression that has had a disorienting and disruptive impact upon political-economic practices, the balance of class power; as well as upon cultural and social life.’

 

Bibliography

Massey, D.  (2012) Power-geometry and a progressive sense of place. Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change London :Routledge

Massey, D. (1994) A Global Sence of Place – From Space, Place and Gender. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Harvey, D. (2000) Time Space Compression and the Postmodern Condition. The Global Transformation Reader

 

Ailish Murphy

112312366