Class Warfare in the Information Age - Hardcover

Perelman, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312177585 ISBN 13: 9780312177584

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998

Synopsis

Mention of class struggle evokes images of a grimy age in which bygone captains of industry callously oppressed armies of overworked and underpaid proletarians. This dark portrait of class conflict stands in sharp contrast with the glorious promise of an information age. In Class Warfare in the Information Age, Michael Perelman shows how class conflict continues to remain a contemporary issue. He challenges the notion that, with the help of the modern computer and telecommunication technologies, we can look forward to life in a well-educated society in which anybody with even a modicum of intelligence and discipline can enjoy a more than comfortable existence. In a relatively jargon-free economic and political analysis, Perelman reveals how the efforts of business to profit from the sale of information will result in the reduction of access to information, rather than an increase. He demonstrates how the treatment of information as a commodity will cause it to be more regulated and less accessible. In the future, Perelman argues, it will still be a class-based privilege to access and afford information, and the rights of individuals will disintegrate as the power of the corporate sector grows. Class Warfare in an Information Age is a refreshingly critical work which forces readers to rethink the conventional hype surrounding the information superhighway.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Perelman is Professor of Economics at California State University, Chico. His most recent books are The End of Economics and The Pathology of the US Economy: The Costs of a Low Wage System.

Review:

“Perelman's wry sense of humor . . . makes this excellent book surprisingly readable and one that deserves to be widely read.” —Choice

“Contends that, for the most part, the information technologies are not being applied to improve the quality of life; rather, they are being used to perfect command and control processes, often at the expense of the well-being of workers.” —Journal of Economic Literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0312177585
• ISBN 13: 9780312177584
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 154