Information Society in Europe : Work and Life in an Age of Globalization

An examination of a range of technological issues at stake in the European Union, from employment and the labour market, to implications for political processes and democracy. It discerns social trends but finds there is considerable room to use the technologies as a force for social change.

For four decades now, information and communication technologies have been seen as principal drivers of socio-economic change. Recent developments in the OInformation SocietyO have raised concerns about the effects of these technologies on the everyday lives of citizens. This volume examines a wide range of issues at stake in the European Union, from employment and the labor market, to the domestication of technologies in households, to larger implications for political processes and democracy. Extending comparisons to other industrialized countries, it demonstrates that the Information Society is far too diverse and rich to be typified in simplistic dichotomies such as information OhavesO and Ohave notsO and that simple upbeat or pessimistic responses to the new technologies are surely false messengers for the future. This book helps broaden and inform communication technology debates worldwide and will be of interest to academics, students, industrialists, policymakers, and anyone who wishes to better understand the impacts of the new Information Society in Europe and beyond.