End of Millennium (Information Age Series) (Vol 3) [Paperback]

Manuel Castells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1557868727 | ISBN-13: 978-1557868725 | Edition: 1

The final volume in Manuel Castells' trilogy is devoted to processes of global social change induced by interaction between networks and identity.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Manuel Castells concludes the Information Age trilogy by considering the intersection of the global network society and factional project identities. As always, the scope of Castell's argument is far-ranging. Among the subjects addressed are the collapse of the Soviet Union; the potential emergence of the Asian Pacific as the next region of major world power; and the rapidly increasing growth of a "Fourth World"-- a series of "black holes of informational capitalism" (areas that have been cut off from the flow of wealth and information in the global economy) that refuses to confine itself to national borders--as likely to appear in the American inner city as it is in sub-Saharan Africa. He also raises the specter of a "global criminal economy," a dark counterpart to transnational corporations, and suggests that trends such as fascination with gangster movies "may well indicate the cultural breakdown of traditional moral order, and the implicit recognition of a new society, made up of communal identity and unruly competition." End of Millennium is perhaps the most accessible of Castell's three volumes, expertly reading the pulse of late-20th-century social trends. It's bound to provoke debate about any efforts to shape the trends of the 21st century.

Review

"Not since Weber has there been such a determined and largely successful effort to bring to bear the results and analytical perspectives of all the social sciences on the evolution of society." Chris Freeman, University of Sussex

"These three volumes represent a staggering undertaking. Castells has attempted nothing less than to take stock of our entire contemporary world. He has succeeded beyond any reasonable expectation. Truly global in scope, yet sacrificing nothing of the concreteness and detail without which enterprises of this kind can be empty and unsatisfying, this trilogy must rank as one of the great works of 'grand theory' of our time." Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia

"The first great philosopher of cyberspace, a big thinker in the European tradition who can nonetheless tell the difference between a bit and a browser." G. Pascal Zachary, Wall Street Journal, Europe

"This is a magesterial effort to paint a comprehensive view of the current-day world society in all its political, economic, social and cultural aspects, as well as its developmental tendencies. The best candidate available for the role of main reference book for the next century." Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw

"Manuel Castells, one of the age's most extraordinary thinkers, is the guru's guru." The Guardian

"The Information Age trilogy stands as a synthesis of Castell's work over the past two decades. As such, it is an excellent source for students and academics alike, offering a range of accessible and usable introductions to the work of one of the most influential theorists." Alan Latham, University of Auckland.

"The Information Age highlights the achievements of recent global scholarship, while pointing its readers - whether they be advanced level undergraduate or graduate students, or more established researchers and teachers - towards exciting and challenging research terrains. It is a book which will accompany us into the new millennium and beyond, helping us to make sense of the puzzling mix of newness and the ever-the-same which is 21st century capitalism. A new world indeed."Alan Latham, University of Auckland

"So full are the shelves now with shallow and indulgent works on the postmodern condition, essays trapped in their own technological determinism or narrow moralism or political wishful thinking, that it has seemed unlikely that a space would be found for an enduring work of sociology examining the new world as it is changing. But Manuel Castells has found and filled that space on the shelf - and for a long time to come." Anthony Smith, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"A magnum opus if there ever was one, these three books together constitute, in my view, the finest piece of contemporary social analysis to come available for at least a generations" Frank Webster, The British Journal of Sociology

" The Information Age , written by Castells at the height of his intellectual power, launches him into the pre-eminence of those whose work must be read by anyone seriously engaged with trying to make sense of the world today." Frank Webster, The British Journal of Sociology

" End of Millennium is the third volume of Castells' monumental study of the information age. It is an ambitious and exciting tour d'horizon of the way in which the information society has affected the political economy of different parts of the world." Mary Kaldor, University of Sussex

" This volume, like so much of Castells's work, fizzes with ideas and intellectual energy. Along with the other two volumes of The Information Age, it will, I am sure, be a central point of reference for analysts of the global economy and society for years to come." A. Latham, The University of Auckland

"End of Millenniumand its companion volumes are decidedly worth a read, for Castells has an impressive grasp of the contemporary world...his descriptive material is often fascinating" John Boli, Emory University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557868727
• ISBN-13: 978-1557868725
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,642,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an outstanding book that deals with our world., August 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: End of Millennium (Information Age Series) (Vol 3) (Paperback)

I read this book as a stand-alone book even though it is No. 3 of a trilogy. Castells deals with the most important issues of our times, and he does so, in a serious, scholarly, but readable way. This book is "must" reading for people in economics, politics, policy studies as well as in the other social sciences. Interested lay persons will find this book quite accessible..

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is information technology the culprit?, February 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: End of Millennium (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume III) (Vol 3) (Paperback)

Many of the observations Prof. Catells made are valid, however the connection between information technology and the social problems are not very strong. The network states, global criminal society, wealth disparity, etc. are more or less the byproduct of globalization. Yes, information technology accelerates the rate of globalization. But would those social problems exist without information technology? Mostly likely yes. These phenomena are not new, they predate the advent of the Information Age (the World Wide Web and mass adoption of internet is a post-1990 phenomenon). Multinatioal organizations (or globalization) have been around for many decades, same goes for the North-South polical economic paradigm. So, attributing all these social problems to the Information Age (at least that is the impression I got out of it) may not be an accurate representation. Nonetheless, his trilogy does demonstrate the acute problem of a global digital divide, and he suggested some possible solutions in some of his other books.

5.0 out of 5 stars A little outdated?, October 11, 2010

By 

Margarita Jaitner (Kornwestheim, DE) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: End of Millennium (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume III) (Vol 3) (Paperback)

The book delivers a good overview of the world in the "end of the millennium". However, it's 2010 and the world has continued to develop making further research is necessary.