Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction [Hardcover]

James E. Katz (Author), Ronald E. Rice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0262112698 | ISBN-13: 978-0262112697

Drawing on nationally representative telephone surveys conducted from 1995 to 2000, James Katz and Ronald Rice offer a rich and nuanced picture of Internet use in America. Using quantitative data, as well as case studies of Web sites, they explore the impact of the Internet on society from three perspectives: access to Internet technology (the digital divide), involvement with groups and communities through the Internet (social capital), and use of the Internet for social interaction and expression (identity). To provide a more comprehensive account of Internet use, the authors draw comparisons across media and include Internet nonusers and former users in their research.The authors call their research the Syntopia Project to convey the Internet's role as one among a host of communication technologies as well as the synergy between people's online activities and their real-world lives. Their major finding is that Americans use the Internet as an extension and enhancement of their daily routines. Contrary to media sensationalism, the Internet is neither a utopia, liberating people to form a global egalitarian community, nor a dystopia-producing armies of disembodied, lonely individuals. Like any form of communication, it is as helpful or harmful as those who use it.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Joe Turow and Andrea Kavanaugh have brought together the Dream Team of Internet analysts and they have filed compelling and often startling dispatches from the frontier where people are using new technologies. The wired homestead is a place where families are changing the way they live and relate, and *The Wired Homestead* is an authoritative account of how that's happening and why."--Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life Project

"Jim Katz and Ron Rice were doing Internet research way before it was cool and they have produced the kind of book that you'd expect from pioneers: It's brave and panoramic. It also has something for everyone: fresh research for data wonks, references to delightful and pathbreaking Web sites, and conclusions about the impact of the Internet that are fair-minded and far-reaching. Use of the Internet matters to more and more people and that's why this book matters a lot."--Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet and American Life ProjectPlease note: Endorser gives permission to excerpt from quote.

"*Shaping the Network Society* documents and analyzes the emergence of civil society in cyberspace. Based on contributions by some of the best experts in the world, it is essential reading for students and practitioners of the new forms of democracy in the Information Age."--Manuel Castells, Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society, University of Southern California

About the Author

James E. Katz is Chair of the Department of Communication at Rutgers University and director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies. He is the author of Magic in the Air: Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Social Life and coauthor of Social Consequences of Internet Use (MIT Press, 2002).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (September 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262112698
• ISBN-13: 978-0262112697
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars review of social consequences..., October 26, 2003

By 

carolyn forswall (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction (Hardcover)

Katz and Rice present an arguement for their belief that the growth of the internet should be seen as a syntopian revolution, meaning that the consequences of the new technology are neither completely beneficial (utopian) or completely distructive (dystopian) but instead the technology is part of a larger sphere that helps and often enables more positive forms of communication and involvement. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the internet that could either hinder or help the socialization of the internet, such as digital awareness (the digital divide), the effects of increased internet use on the amount of time spent in community involvement, and the political benefits and detractors of a completely wireless world.

I thought Katz and Rice presented a well developed thesis that counteracted the opposing views well when taken at face value. They analyzed the confounding variables in the research which adds validity to their position, and they used simple logic that appeals to even the guy who has never seen a computer. But I also detected a bit of bias in their research and their presentation of their arguement. This book must be read carefully and the information presented must not be adopted unless critically analyzed. Many of the statistics were based on correlational studies that can not show cause. The statistics are also somewhat out of date despite the fact that the last survey took place just three years ago. With such an innovative topic as technology current data is crucial to the support of an arguement.

I would not recommend this book to a person who is not familiar with statistical studies because much of the argument is based around statistical surveys, and the information can be hard to swallow if you dont know what standard deviation means. i would also not recommend this book to anyone who is not already familiar with the internet and its social consequences because Katz and Rice do a good job of weaving their perspective into the chapters throughout the book and only the keen observer will recognize that there are some weak arguements and some counter supportive data in the book. Overall, I believe that this book adds strong support for the positive effects of the internet on our lives, but only when the book is read with a critical eye that always analyzes and reanalyzes Katz and Rice's method of persuasion.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A positive spin for Internet use, October 27, 2003

By 

Chester Ennis (Dark side of the moon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction (Hardcover)

What happens as more Americans become connected to the Internet and begin to spend an increasing amount of time on the Net? What kind of experience do people encounter on the Net? These are just a few of topics discussed in Katz's and Rice's book Social Consequences of Internet Use. In their book they look at the impact of the Internet on American society in three areas: access to internet technology; civic and community involvement, and social interaction and expression through the Internet. They draw a large part of their data from a series of multiyear national random telephone surveys that looked at the social aspects of Americans' Internet behavior. The survey was first conducted in 1995 and since then has been performed in 1996, 1997, and 2000. They claim their survey was the first to use a national random telephone survey to look at the social consequences of the Internet. Together with their own survey data, the authors also use case studies, reports and other national data surveys, including the Pew Internet and American Life Project to support their assertions. Their research and book however does not cover current Internet related issues like e-commerce and privacy of personal information on the Net.

The authors maintain their motivation in writing the book "is to respond to arguments that the Internet is harmful or that it is a revolutionary liberating force." They conclude that the Internet is neither all bad "dystopian view" nor all good "utopian view" but instead the Internet is syntopia, which is a mix of both the dystopian and utopian view of the Internet. To them the Internet will not cause people to stay inside and only communicate with other through the Internet and cause society to fall in disrepair, nor will the Internet cause society break the shackles of repression and cause drastic increases in democratization. Rice and Katz conclude several points on consequences of Internet use: the internet does not reduce social capital but instead fosters it, it is personal self-interest that draws people to the Internet, which can bring about community, the Internet does not reduce overall communication, and the Internet has not precipitated a political or social revolution.

Social Consequences of Internet Use definitely portrays the positives aspects of the Internet. They show how society has been made better by the Internet and only briefly discuss the negative consequences of Internet use. At the end of the book they justify this omission by saying they lean more to the utopian view because there is such a widely held belief that Internet is a detriment instead of a benefit to society. This does not however excuse some of their representation of positive correlation of Internet use as causation. Overall, this is an informative and extensive look at what happens to people when they go on the Internet even though it is slightly biased toward the positive side of Internet use. I recommend this book to anyone who has any interest, both recreational and scholarly, in the social aspect of Internet use.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exhausting yet Informative, October 26, 2003

By 

Logan Wiedenfeld (College Station, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction (Hardcover)

As the title suggests, Katz and Rice's Social Consequences of Internet Use examines the social ramifications resulting from the profusion of internet usage in the past decade. The authors delineate "three central social issues of the internet: access, civic and community involvement, and social interaction and expression" (4). Within these three categories, the authors pose an assortment of novel and intriguing questions such as: Why would an internet user "dropout", that is, willingly give up his access; how does the internet affect politics, more especially elections; is social interaction via the internet even comparable to face-to-face interaction; and does the internet allow for more diversity of opinions or does it conversely perpetuate the status quo, as many critics argue?

Through an assortment of surveys and case studies (home pages), and also data from both the Pew study and the American Life Project, Katz and Rice provide a thorough basis for their arguments. With much of the text being graphs, charts, and tables, the reader is easily able to correlate the sometimes difficult text to the more tangible graphs and charts. The reciprocal is also helpful. However, a large portion of the statistical data is based solely on correlations and therefore potentially not the most reliable data. But, the sheer abundance of the correlations should be sufficient enough to lend them validity.

For the sake of the people who, after reading a review that is more or less a synopsis of an entire book forgo acquiring it, I will not divulge much. But I still feel obliged to at least provide an overview of their results.

In short, Social Consequences of Internet Use theorizes that the internet is more of an extension of our already existing media. The authors claim that, contrary to both sides of the extremists (Utopian and Dystopian thinkers), the internet fits in better with a syntopian conceptualization, that is, neither Utopian nor Dystopian but a conglomeration of the two.

Social Consequences of Internet Use is a thought-provoking book that tackles many social issues that have not had much attention in past research. If this field interests you, then this book is a must-have. However, due to the exhaustive and at times laborious reading, I would not recommend this book to dabblers or people looking for a leisurely read.