By Judith A. Perrolle
Copyright (c) 1987 by Wadsworth Publishing Company New material (c) 1996, 1997, 1998 by Judith A. Perrolle

INTRODUCTION. Information, Property, Power, and Community

PART ONE. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
Chapter 1. Basic Concepts
Chapter 2. Social Change
Chapter 3. Historical Background

PART TWO. THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF COMPUTERS
Chapter 4. Ergonomics: The Physiology and Psychology of Computer Use
Chapter 5. Social Factors: The Computer Impact on Human/Human Interactions
Chapter 6. Institutional Impacts: Virtual Communities in a Capitalist World

PART THREE. THE COMPUTER TRANSFORMATION OF WORK
Chapter 7. The Information Economy: From Manufacturing to Knowledge Production
Chapter 8. The Analytical Engine: Work in the Information Society
Chapter 9. Privacy and Surveillance in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

PART FOUR. INFORMATION, PROPERTY, AND POWER IN DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
Chapter 10. Property, Privacy, and Social Control: Computers and the Law
Chapter 11. Information as Power: Computers and Social Decisions
Chapter 12. The Social Future of Information

REFERENCES
[ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ]

GLOSSARY
[ A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z ]

PART ONE. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

CHAPTER 1. BASIC CONCEPTS

1.1 INFORMATION
1.1.1Data, Information, and Knowledge
1.1.1.1 Data
1.1.1.2 Information
1.1.1.3 Knowledge
1.1.1.4 Formal and Informal Knowledge
1.1.1.5 Wisdom
1.1.1.6 Information Hierarchies
1.1.1.7 Data Base Architecture

1.1.2Cultural Information
1.1.2.1 Symbols
1.1.2.2 Sacred and Secular Knowledge
1.1.2.3 The Two Cultures
1.1.2.4 Computers and Cultural Values

1.1.3The Scientific Study of Information
1.1.3.1 Measuring Information
1.1.3.2 Cybernetics
1.1.3.3 Entropy
1.1.3.4 Information and Social Science
1.1.3.5 Measuring the Value of Information Products

1.1.4 The Data Explosion and the Information Lag
1.1.4.1 Information Overload
1.1.4.2 The Crisis in Data Processing

1.1.5 Intelligent Information Processing
1.1.5.1 Knowledge Engineering
1.1.5.1 Search Engines on the World Wide Web

1.2 THE SOCIAL SYSTEM
1.2.1 System Characteristics
1.2.2 Social Interaction
1.2.2.1 Information and Power in Social Interactions
1.2.2.2 Computers and Social Interaction

1.2.3 Social Structure
1.2.3.1 Social Roles
1.2.3.2 Status

1.2.4 Institutions
1.2.4.1 Property
1.2.4.2 Stratification

1.3 TECHNOLOGY
1.3.1 The Computer as a Tool
1.3.2 Technique
1.3.2.1 "Computer Literacy" as a Technique
1.3.2.2 Technique and Ritual

1.3.3 Design
1.3.3.1 Creativity and Design
1.3.3.2 Computer-Aided Design

1.3.4 Technology and Reification

2.1 THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
2.1.1 Theories and Paradigms
2.1.1.1 Paradigms
2.1.1.2 Paradigms for Society

2.1.2 Boundaries, Dynamics, and Sources of Change
2.1.2.1 Structural Change
2.1.2.2 Dynamic Stability
2.1.2.3 Progress
2.1.2.4 Revolutionary Change
2.1.2.5 Catastrophic Change

2.1.3 A Model of Information and Tools in Social Change
2.1.3.1 The Social Interpretation of Reality
2.1.3.2 Interactions with the Environment Through Tools
2.1.3.3 The Social Consequences of Technology
2.1.3.4 The Cybernetic Impact

2.2 CLASSICAL THEORIES OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
2.2.1 The Classical Insights: Smith, Malthus, and Darwin
2.2.2 The Internal Dynamics of Capitalism: Marx, Durkheim,and Weber
2.2.2.1 Marx: a Model of Social Transformation
2.2.2.2 Emile Durkheim: Social Differentiation and Integration
2.2.2.3 Max Weber: Rationality and Power

2.2.3 The Individual Component: Freud and the Cassical Theorists

2.3 CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
2.3.1The Functionalist Tradition
2.3.1.1Technological Determinism and the Diffusion Model
2.3.1.2Social Networks Theory
2.3.2The Conflict Approach

2.3.3The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
2.3.3.1Goffman: Interaction Rituals
2.3.3.2The Social Construction of Reality
2.3.3.3Turkle: Computers and the Construction of the Self

3.1 EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION
3.1.1Tools, Information, and Human Evolution
3.1.1.1 The Origin of the Species
3.1.1.2 Language and Art
3.1.1.3 The Division of Labor

3.1.2The Agricultural Revolution: New Techniques and Social Structures
3.1.2.1 Changes in Cultural Information
3.1.2.2 The Division of Labor in Agricultural Societies
3.1.2.3 The Origin of the Family
3.1.2.4 New Relationships of Property and Power
3.1.2.5 Innovations in Information Processing

3.2THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
3.2.1The Great Transformation
3.2.2The Transformation of Property
3.2.2.1 The Concept of Commodity Property
3.2.2.2 Commodities and Capitalism

3.2.3The Transformation of Labor
3.2.4The Rationalization of Culture
3.2.4.1 The Economic Consequences of Religious Ideas
3.2.4.2 The Age of Scientific Reason
3.2.4.3 Temporal Rationalization
3.2.4.4 The Rationaliztion of Social Interaction

3.2.5Information and The Rise of Capitalism

3.3 COMPUTERS AND CAPITALISM
3.3.1The Industrial Origins of the Modern Digital Computer
3.3.2 A New Division of Labor
3.3.2.1 The Transformation of Industrial Time and Space
3.3.2.2The Industrialization of Mental Labor

3.3.3The Social Consequences

PART TWO. THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF COMPUTERS AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES

CHAPTER 4. ERGONOMICS: THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF COMPUTER USE

4.1 TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN NEEDS
4.1.1 A Functionalist Model of Human Needs
4.1.2Capitalism and Human Needs

4.2 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HUMAN/COMPUTER INTERACTION
4.2.1Physical Stress
4.2.2Vision
4.2.3VDT Radiation

4.2.3.1 Static Electricity
4.2.3.2 Microwave Exposures
4.2.3.3 Possible Reproductive Hazards
4.2.3.4 Defining VDT Health Risks

4.2.4Computers for the Disabled
4.2.4.1 Communications for the Deaf
4.2.4.2 Data Access for the Blind
4.2.4.3 Robotics for the Physically Impaired
4.2.4.4 Meeting Human Needs?

4.3 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE HUMAN/COMPUTER INTERACTION
4.3.1The Psychology of Stress
4.3.2Response Time
4.3.3Conversations with a Computer
4.3.4Children's Ideas and Adult Attitudes
4.3.5Sex and the Compulsive Programmer
4.3.6The Reflexive User

5.1 Social Interactions Among Computer Users
5.1.1 Loss of Face to Face Contact
5.1.2 The Absence of Vision
5.1.3 Multimedia Interfaces and Emotional Communication

5.2 Computer-Aided Conversation and the Problem of Trust
5.2.1 Trust and the Nature of External Reality
5.2.2 Intentions in Conversations with a Computer
5.2.3 Computers and Conversational Norms

5.3 Social Integration in Electronic Networks
5.3.1 Organizational Interfaces
5.3.2 Community Interfaces
5.3.3 The Social Use of Public Space

6.1 COMPUTERS-AIDED SOCIALIZATION
6.1.1 Home Computers and Family Change
6.1.1.1 The Not-So-Traditional Family
6.1.1.2Capitalism and Family Change
6.1.1.3The Electronic Cottage Family

6.1.2 Computer and the Changing Schools
6.1.2.1 The Crisis in American Education
6.1.2.2 Computer-Literacy as a Technological Fix
6.1.2.3 The Emerging Role of the Private Sector
6.1.2.4 Education and Social Equity
6.1.2.5 The Future of Education

6.2 COMPUTER RECREATION AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY
6.2.1 The Changing Functions of Leisure
6.2.2 Video Games as Socializing Agents

6.3VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES FIELDTRIP