A Normative Theory of the Information Society (Routledge Research in Information Technology and Society)

There is a clear need for a systematic, integrative, and rigorous normative theory of the information society. In this book, Duff offers a prescriptive theory to help guide the academic and policy communities as they debate the future shape of emerging post-industrial, information-based societies. He argues that information policy needs to become anchored in a left-liberal philosophy which foregrounds a feasible permutation of the core ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood. The information society, if it is to be worth having at all, cannot be allowed to be largely the outcome of the free play of market forces and technological determinism. The social structure, including the information economy, must be subjected to a regulatory system as explicated by some leading proponents of social democracy. This text will be of interest to scholars and students at the cutting edge of information studies, journalism and media, computer science, sociology, politics, philosophy, management and law.

Alistair S. Duff, PhD, is professor of information policy at Edinburgh Napier University and a member of its Centre for Social Informatics. With a multidisciplinary background, he has published in a wide range of media on the social role of information and technology. His monograph Information Society Studies was published in 2000 by Routledge.