Customer Reviews

NETOCRACY: the new power elite and life after capitalism

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As per the subtitle this book describes the rise of the "new power elite" and "life after capitalism". It what must be seen as a profound and groundbreaking work, Bard & Söderqvist demonstrates how "informationalism" is taking over from capitalism. It is already a given fact that the available information dictates which thoughts and actions are possible. A direct conclusion from this is that whomever controls the flow of information will become the new ruling class. No stone is left unturned and the new technology for communication and information will undoubtedly change the preconditions for everything: society, economy and culture.

As Bard & Söderqvist explains, democracy, as we know it is in crises and as example they show how the boundary between politics and gossip is increasingly being erased. As in the last episode of the Dilbert TV series, where Dilbert creates the Internet Voting Network with the vision of brining democracy to the people, it is clear that some political issues are to complicate for the masses to understand so the media grabs any opportunity to vilify the politician's social misbehaviour instead. No wonder voter participation all over the world is down and as often quoted example more people voted in the finals of Big Brother TV series then in the last British election. What we lack today is not information but overview and context.

One of the more controversial assertions in NETOCRACY is that when a taboo has been transgressed in one specific area, it is impossible to maintain this taboo for society in general. It will become quite "natural" to regulate how reproduction should occur. The constant weakening of the nation state will impose insurmountable obstacles for these political efforts when trying to regulate biotechnology and specifically genetic research. In Asia for example there is far less sentimental view of the matter then in the West's strongly Judeo-Christian world.

Information society is controlled by networking, something the metropolitan part of the urban population has conscientiously practised for centuries. Conventional forms of personal relations are dissolving and disappearing: circumstances will determine the form of a relationship. One thing that becomes clear is the now overused statement that change is the only constant. As we are in the transition phase of the new Informational Society so we can become aware of its likely effects on our lives. If we're willing to adapt rather then keep things the way the are and were we should prosper as a society.

I consider myself part of the Netocracy simply because I believe I understand the fundementals behind the Information Society and especially the technology. It's become something I take for granted. Now all I need is to exploit it.

The original text was written in 2000, and now seven years later, I can say that many ideas presented in the book have proved right. Translation to English is of mediocre quality though. The book is filled with long, run-on sentences and suffers from extremely poor punctuation. The same ideas, by the way, are discussed to a much greater extent in The Dream Society by Rolf Jensen.

There are hundreds of books available on the new economy, the digital society and e-business. This book is completely different. The publication catched quite some attention in Scandinavia and for good reasons.
Based on a thorough historical perspective, the authors claim the arrival of a new elite after first feudalism and now capitalism. They call this new power elite the Netocrats.
Some critics claim the authors do not provide academic rigour to backup their claims. Indeed, not one reference to related books or articles is presented although the authors name sources of inspiration.
Is this a bad thing? Not at all. The result is a highly readible book as opposed to other books which make you check the references each couple of sentences. This does not mean the book is a "simple" book. Be prepared for an intellectual text compared to the usual management books written by the well-known authors.
The book is a heavy contribution to all the discussions on the impact technology has on the power balance in the next era.
Like me you might not agree with the authors on all issues, at least you read one of the most interesting books of this decade.

Bard and Zonderquist, based on traditional historical assumptions, try to do conclusions about the future of society. Authors are indoubtedly strong in perception of a present situation, and only thanks to this it is possible to forgive forecasts and think on updating perception of the past (see ISBN: 2913621023 for a radical history revision). They show, why the ruling class will be replaced by a new one, but do not show how they will do.

Bard paints a picture where the new social does replaces but not coexists with current formations (par examples, feodalism is not dead yet!) There are no concrete examples of social networks that will survive in near future and/or gain momentum; Bard mockingly hints that the changes will so deft that we can't notice it yet.

Perfect book. Don't rely on it. Don't trust it. Try your own way on perceiving reality and the past. And may be you get high ranks netocratic society. If there are any ranks would exist!

Netocracy is a great book, I recommend this for everyone. The book is about the new elite. Brand new thinking, unique ideas.

The authors present theire view of a completly new economic system that will is generated by the information devices now available. How capitalism is being replaced by the information economy.

I checked this book out for some background research on a paper that I'm working on for a conference. I had hoped it would be more scholarly and was quite disappointed.

This is a Tom Peterseque foray into the topic. And, that's fine, if you like that genre of work. I'm sure that my partner would eat up this book...and for a Saturday read, I'd leaf through this book.

However, noting that the book crosses different disciplines (inner jacket) proves a false assertion. Frankly, I can see how another reviewer referred to this book as "pseudo" intellectual. The boot fits.

The book with super ideas! But you should find them in the informational flow. And if you find and understand them - you will get the new power - the knowledge that will enable you to reach everything you want in the new net-environment.

BTW recently I noticed that the official Netocracy site www.thenetocrats.com started to work. So the new netocrats society will be in power very soon!

I found that the contents of this book didn't even begin to deliver the message as on the flyleaf and from other reviews.

Probably 10% of the contents even made sense, and the rest of it was a wide range of disparate ideas strung together to pad out a book that could say what it had to say in 20 pages.