Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

We live in the midst of a revolution in communication technologies that affects the way in which people feel, think, and behave. The media have become the space where power strategies are played out. In the current technological context mass communication goes beyond traditional media and includes the Internet and mobile communication. In this wide-ranging and powerful book, Manuel Castells analyses the transformation of the global media industry by this revolution in communication technologies. He argues that a new communication system, mass self-communication, has emerged, and power relationships have been profoundly modified by the emergence of this new communication environment. Created in the commons of the Internet this communication can be locally based, but globally connected. It is built through messaging, social networks sites, and blogging, and is now being used by the millions around the world who have access to the Internet.Drawing on a wide range of social and psychological theories, Castells presents original research on political processes and social movements, including the misinformation of the American public on the Iraq War, the global environmental movement to prevent climate change, the control of information in China and Russia, and Internet-based political campaigns, such as the Obama campaign in the United States. On the basis of these case studies he proposes a new theory of power in the information age based on the management of communication networksJustly celebrated for his analysis of the network society, Castells here builds on that work, offering a well grounded and immensely challenging picture of communication and power in the 21st century. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics and character of the modern world.

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CHOICE Review

In keeping with a new age of communication media and social networking, Castells (USC) attempts to provide a new theory of communication and power. His central premise is that "the common culture of the global network society is a culture of protocols of communication enabling communication between different cultures on the basis not of shared values but of the sharing of the value of communication." In an exploration that is akin to an anatomical dissection, he focuses on the global communications network and all its parts. By looking at how all the parts fit and work together, he aims to create an awareness of how messages impact individuals and the world. Castells provides important analyses of various cases, including the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization, and the wired/networked campaign of President Barack Obama. In addition to a retrospective investigation, Castells provides recommendations for civic engagement through critical analysis of the messages and frames that permeate everyday lives in this constantly connected world. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. G. C. David Bentley University