What plays the main role in the information society. James Martin

1. Concept, prerequisites for the emergence and theories of the information society

2. Features of the information society and its contradictions.

Since the mid-60s, Western sociologists and social philosophers (D. Bell, D. Riesman, O. Toffler, A. Touraine, etc.) have been actively discussing the issue of the entry of the most developed countries into a qualitatively different stage of social development, characterized by them as a “post-industrial” or “information” society. A number of factors contributed to these conversations.

Firstly, everyone then was impressed by the rapid development of science and technology, as mentioned above.

Secondly, in the mid-70s there was a global energy crisis. Oil-producing countries did not want to sell the contents of their subsoil to the West for next to nothing and raised prices. As a result, Western industry is faced with the urgent need to implement energy-efficient solutions in production and construction, as well as to increase product profitability. Having overcome this crisis, Western countries have entered a new technological stage.

Thirdly, just in the early 70s, the old financial system (it was called Bretton Woods) collapsed. As a result of the introduction of floating exchange rates, the dollar began to prevail in all international payments and began to play the role of world money. Thus, the West received almost limitless opportunities for expansion. And for any expansion that combines economic and political aspects, appropriate ideological support is needed.

Well, fourthly, by this time the USSR had so lost its development momentum that no opposition was expected on its part.

Information society is a term used to designate the current state of industrialized countries, associated with the new role of information in all aspects of their life, a qualitatively new level (scope) of production, processing and dissemination of information.

Information society is a society in which the majority of workers are engaged in the production, storage, processing and sale of information, especially its highest form - knowledge

There are two approaches that interpret the historical place of the information society differently. The first approach, expressed by Jurgen Habermas, E. Giddens, considers the information society as a phase of industrial society.

The second approach, voiced by D. Bell and Alvin Toffler, fixes the information society as a completely new stage following the industrial society (the second wave, according to Toffler).

Prerequisites for the formation of the information society:

Features of the information society:

Intellectual and creative labor displaces the labor of the individual directly involved in the production process;

Development of the service sector;

The main thing becomes work aimed at receiving, processing, storing, transforming and using information.

Creativity takes on primary importance in motivating work activity;

Creation of new needs and values, new economic sectors and market segments.

Changes in employment;

The problem of the information crisis has been solved, i.e. the contradiction between the information avalanche and information hunger is resolved;

The priority of information is ensured compared to other resources;

The main form of development will be the information economy;

The basis of society will be the automated generation, storage, processing and use of knowledge using the latest information technology and technology;

Information technology will become global in nature, covering all areas of human social activity;

The information unity of the entire human civilization is being formed;

With the help of computer science, every person has free access to the information resources of the entire civilization;

Humanistic principles of social management and environmental impact have been implemented.

In addition to the positive aspects, dangerous trends are also predicted:

• the increasing influence of the media on society;
• information technology can destroy the privacy of people and organizations;
• there is a problem of selecting high-quality and reliable information;
• many people will find it difficult to adapt to the information society environment. There is a danger of a gap between the “information elite” (people involved in the development of information technologies) and consumers.

Theories of the information society:

Jurgen Habermas German philosopher and sociologist

According to Professor W. Martin, the information society is understood as a “developed post-industrial society” that arose primarily in the West. In his opinion, it is no coincidence that the information society is establishing itself primarily in those countries - Japan, the USA and Western Europe - in which a post-industrial society was formed in the 60s and 70s.

William Martin made an attempt to identify and formulate the main characteristics of the information society according to the following criteria.

• Technological: the key factor is information technology, which is widely used in production, institutions, the education system and in everyday life.
• Social: information acts as an important stimulator of changes in the quality of life, “information consciousness” is formed and established with wide access to information.
• Economic: Information is a key factor in the economy as a resource, service, commodity, source of added value and employment.
• Political: freedom of information leading to a political process characterized by increasing participation and consensus among different classes and social strata of the population.
• Cultural: recognition of the cultural value of information by promoting the establishment of information values ​​in the interests of the development of the individual and society as a whole.

At the same time, Martin especially emphasizes the idea that communication is “a key element of the information society.”

D. Bell: Defines the information society through the changes taking place in real society

A new social order based on telecommunications

The revolution in the organization and processing of information and knowledge, in which the computer plays a central role, is unfolding simultaneously with the emergence of a post-industrial society.

Three aspects of post-industrial society are particularly important for understanding the telecommunications revolution:

1) transition from an industrial to a service society;

2) the critical importance of codified theoretical knowledge for the implementation of technological innovation;

3) transformation of the new “intelligent technology” into a key tool for system analysis and decision-making theory.”

Alvin Toffler “The Third Wave” is an American sociologist and futurist, he studied in detail the response of society to this phenomenon and the changes occurring in society

According to Toffler, the development of science and technology occurs in spurts, or more precisely, in waves. Since the mid-50s, industrial production began to acquire new features. In many areas of technology, a variety of types of equipment, product samples, and types of services are increasingly being discovered. The specialization of labor is becoming increasingly fragmented. Organizational forms of management are expanding. The volume of publications is increasing. According to the scientist, all this led to extreme fragmentation of economic indicators, which led to the emergence of computer science.

Studying the information age worker, Toffler notes that he is more independent, more innovative, that he is no longer an appendage of the machine. However, unemployment is also inherent in the information age, and the problem of unemployment becomes not so much a quantitative problem as a qualitative one. It's no longer just a matter of how many jobs there are, but what types of jobs are, where, when, and who can fill them. Today's economy is extremely dynamic, industries that are experiencing depression coexist next to prosperous ones, and this makes it difficult to solve the problem of unemployment. And unemployment itself is now more diverse in its origin.

His main works advocate the thesis that humanity is moving to a new technological revolution, that is, the first wave (agrarian civilization) and the second (industrial civilization) are being replaced by a new one, leading to the creation of a super-industrial civilization.

The “third wave” brings with it a truly new way of life based on diversified, renewable energy sources; on production methods that render most factory assembly lines obsolete; on some new (“non-nuclear”) family; at a new institute that could be called an “electronic cottage”; on the radically transformed schools and corporations of the future. The emerging civilization brings with it a new code of conduct and takes us beyond the concentration of energy, money and power.”

T. Stoneier INFORMATION WEALTH: PROFILE OF POST-INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY

There are three main ways in which a country can increase its national wealth: 1) continuous accumulation of capital, 2) military conquests and territorial increments, 3) the use of new technology that converts “non-resources” into resources. Due to the high level of technology development in the post-industrial economy, the conversion of non-resources into resources has become the main principle of creating new wealth. information exchange leads to cooperation. Information is therefore a resource that can be shared without regret.

A. Touraine: French sociologist

“...the concept of a post-industrial society... - here investments are made at a different level than in an industrial society, that is, in the production of means of production. The organization of labor affects only the relations of workers among themselves, and therefore the level at which production operates. Post-industrial society operates more globally at the management level, that is, in the production mechanism as a whole. This action takes two main forms. Firstly, it is innovation, that is, the ability to produce new products, in particular as a result of investments in science and technology; secondly, management itself, that is, the ability to use complex information and communication systems.

It is important to recognize that a post-industrial society is one in which all elements of the economic system are affected by the actions of society on itself. These actions do not always take the form of conscious will embodied in an individual or even a group of people. This is why such a society should be called a programmable society, a designation that clearly indicates its ability to create models for managing production, organization, distribution and consumption; Therefore, this kind of society appears at the operational level not as a result of natural laws or specific cultural characteristics, but rather as the result of production, through the action of society on itself, its own systems of social action.”

1. Information society: concepts, definitions, concepts

Information society.1

The role of the state in the formation of the information society. 9

Concept for the development of the information society of the European Community. 12

Self-test questions:19

On the other hand, the penetration of information technologies into people's private lives can threaten the privacy of citizens. The price for convenience, speed of transmission and receipt of information, various information services - a person must constantly report personal data to information systems - loss of anonymity.

Due to the particular sensitivity to the collection of personal information, the documents of the European Community (Building the European Information Society for Us All. First Reflections of the High Level Group of Experts. Interim Report, January 1996) offer the following recommendations:

· collection and storage of identifiable information should be minimal;

· the decision to open or close information should be left to the people themselves;

· when designing information systems, it is necessary to take into account the need to protect personal information;

· citizens must have access to the latest technologies to protect personal privacy;

· the protection of personal information and privacy should become the central point of a policy that ensures the right to anonymity of citizens in information systems.

Intensive implementation of information technologies in government agencies makes it possible to:

· bring them closer to citizens, improve and expand services to the population;

· increase internal efficiency and reduce public sector costs;

· stimulate the creation of new information equipment, products and services by the private sector through adequate public policy.

The following principles should apply regarding access to public information:

· information should be open to everyone;

· basic information should be free. A reasonable price should be charged if additional processing is required, bearing in mind the cost of preparing and transmitting the information, plus a small profit;

· Continuity: information must be provided continuously, and must be of the same quality.

As a rule, the reason for failures in the implementation of information technology implementation projects both at the level of enterprises and the state is the inability to combine technological innovations with organizational ones.

1.2. The role of the state in the formation of the information society

The rapid development of ITT, the convergence of computer systems, communications of various types, the entertainment industry, and the production of consumer electronics lead to the need to reconsider ideas about the information industry, its role and place in society. Many countries are now adopting new laws and restructuring the activities of government bodies responsible for the formation and implementation of information and telecommunications policies.

State information policy– regulatory activities of government bodies aimed at developing the information sphere of society, which covers not only telecommunications, information systems or the media, but the entire set of industries and relations associated with the creation, storage, processing, demonstration, transmission of information in all its forms - business, entertainment, scientific and educational, news, etc.

Such an expansive interpretation of information policy seems justified today, since the digitalization of information and the latest telecommunications and computer technologies are intensively eroding the barriers between various sectors of the information industry.

A comprehensive consideration of the processes occurring in the information sphere of society, modern methods of its state regulation is very relevant for Russia, since the state has not fully defined itself in this area. Existing attempts to write concepts of information space only partially solve the problem, since the space itself is formed not so much by the state as by the market and new commercial structures. The history of the Russian computer market confirms this. An analysis of foreign practice in regulating the information sphere of society allows us to highlight a number of areas, which include:

· encouraging competition, combating monopolism (control over the concentration of ownership in the media, issuing permits for mergers of companies, decisions on the disintegration of large monopolistic companies);

· ensuring the right and technical capabilities to access information and information resources for the entire population;

· respect for freedom of speech;

· protecting the interests of national minorities and the younger generation in the information sphere;

· protection of national cultural heritage, language, opposition to the cultural expansion of other countries;

· ensuring information security;

· protection of intellectual property, fight against piracy;

· fight against computer and high-tech crimes;

· control over the use of information and telecommunication technologies in government agencies;

· censorship in global computer networks.

Among the most significant trends in the foreign information industry in recent years are the revision of previously established rules for its regulation: deregulation of the telecommunications market, allowing cable, telephone, cellular, satellite and other companies to compete in each other's markets; weakening control over the concentration of ownership in various media. As a result, there is both vertical and horizontal integration of information markets and the means of its transmission.

The development of the information industry and new information relations in Russia is largely stimulated by global processes in this area - the deregulation of the telecommunications market, the privatization of state telecom operators, the creation of new information conglomerates, including both means of information delivery (cable and telephone networks, satellites, computer systems, etc.) etc.), and content producers - television and film studios, publishing houses, news agencies.

Currently, there is a wave of mergers abroad of the world's largest information companies into large associations that will control the market for the creation and distribution of mass information in the next century. These transformations are a response of leading information companies to the opportunities created by new technologies and changes in the regulatory system of the information industry. Since this process is extremely dynamic, Russia has only a year or two to take its rightful place in the system of international information relations.

Preserving competition and combating the monopoly of individual manufacturers or firms providing services is the cornerstone of government regulation. In the field of telecommunications, mergers of various companies at the national and interstate levels must occur with the permission of the relevant authorities, in the USA these are the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, which determine whether the merger of two or more companies will lead to the emergence of a monopoly, which will eliminate competition and, as a consequence, over time will reduce the quality and variety of services provided to the business world and the population, leading to higher prices. All large American companies, such as AT&T, Microsoft, IBM, television companies, which are now looking for partners in their own and foreign markets, are under the close attention of these authorities.

There are large gaps in Russian information legislation - laws on the right to information, on the protection of personal data, and on television have not been adopted. The laws on the protection of copyright and related rights, on the media, and on participation in international information exchange require additions. However, new ones are being added to the old unresolved problems. On the agenda is the regulation of the already begun process of concentration of ownership of domestic mass media, the merger of newspapers, their association with television channels, news agencies, and financial groups. There are no documents regulating the procedure for creating and maintaining departmental information resources and citizens’ access to them. Rules for the acquisition and operation of information and telecommunication technologies in government agencies have not been established, which leads to uncontrolled and irresponsible spending of significant amounts; computer and information systems do not make the expected contribution to increasing the efficiency of government agencies. It is necessary to develop your “own” Internet based on Russian information. The development of normative documents regulating the sale of information resources created by government agencies is very relevant. Resources that are not subject to denationalization, such as statistical information, must be clearly listed. Finally, it is necessary to decide what the place and role of Russia is in international programs such as the Global Information Infrastructure.

1.3. Concept for the development of the information society of the European Community

Since 1994, the European Community has made the task of building an information society one of its highest priorities. Significant success has been achieved in the implementation of the Action Plan (Europe and the global information society, 1994), which defined the strategy for Europe's movement towards the information society:

· liberalization of the telecommunications sector has been successfully launched;

· efforts have been made to ensure the social orientation of the information society, support regional initiatives to achieve coordinated development;

· an action plan in the field of education has been formulated;

· supported the European content manufacturing industry, which is expected to create an additional 1 million jobs over the next 10 years;

· scientific development programs have been successfully implemented;

· The European Commission has become an important instrument for developing common rules that are necessary for the transition to a global information society.

Taking into account what has already been achieved, new tasks are being set for European countries:

1. Improve business conditions through effective and coordinated liberalization of telecommunications, create the necessary conditions for the introduction of electronic commerce.

2. A transition to lifelong learning is necessary. The “Learning in the Information Society” initiative is working in this direction.

3. The significant consequences of the information society for the individual have prompted a debate aimed at placing people at the center of the ongoing transformations. As a result of the discussion, the Green Paper “Living and Working in the Information Society: People First” (Green Paper, 1996) was released. It is about creating new jobs, protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens, especially privacy.

4. Today the importance of global cooperation and the establishment of rules for creating an information society is clear. They affect intellectual property rights, data protection and privacy, the dissemination of harmful and illegal content, tax issues, information security, the use of frequencies, and standards. Multilateral agreements within the European Union are needed to establish common rules in these areas

The European Commission established a Forum in February 1995 to discuss common problems in the development of the information society. Its 128 members represent users of new technologies, various social groups, content and service providers, network operators, government and international institutions. The purpose of the Forum is to trace the process of formation of the information society in six areas:

· impact on the economy and employment;

· basic social and democratic values ​​in the “virtual community”;

· impact on public and government services;

· education, retraining, training in the information society;

· cultural dimension and the future of the media;

· sustainable development, technology and infrastructure.

Thus, the prerequisites and real ways of forming and developing the information society in Russia are now understood. This process is global in nature, and our country’s entry into the global information community is inevitable. The use of material and spiritual benefits of information civilization can provide the population of Russia with a decent life, economic prosperity and the necessary conditions for the free development of personality. Russia must join the family of technologically and economically developed countries as a full-fledged participant in world civilizational development while maintaining political independence, national identity and cultural traditions, with a developed civil society and the rule of law. It can be expected that the main features and characteristics of the information society will be formed in Russia under stable socio-political conditions and deep economic transformations in the first quarter of the 21st century.

The characteristic features and characteristics of the information society include:

· formation of a single information and communication space of Russia as part of the world information space, full participation of Russia in the processes of information and economic integration of regions, countries and peoples;

· the formation and subsequent dominance in the economy of new technological structures based on the massive use of promising information technologies, computer technology and telecommunications;

· creation and development of a market for information and knowledge as factors of production in addition to the markets for natural resources, labor and capital, the transition of society's information resources into real resources for socio-economic development, the actual satisfaction of society's needs for information products and services;

· increasing role of information and communication infrastructure in the system of social production;

· increasing the level of education, scientific, technical and cultural development by expanding the capabilities of information exchange systems at the international, national and regional levels and, accordingly, increasing the role of qualifications, professionalism and creativity as the most important characteristics of labor services;

· creation of an effective system for ensuring the rights of citizens and social institutions to freely receive, disseminate and use information as the most important condition for democratic development.

The need to transition to an information society is closely related to the change in the nature of the impact of scientific and technological progress on people's lives. At the end of the 20th century, the speed of change in technological structures in production, technologies for providing products and services, and the management of these processes increased significantly. If at the beginning and even in the middle of the century such changes occurred in periods of time significantly exceeding the lifespan of one or two generations, today a change in the technological structure occurs in a shorter period. At the same time, the lifestyle of the majority of the population, the socio-psychological model of behavior of people and society as a whole is radically changing. The behavior patterns of the current and future generations are beginning to differ especially significantly - the well-known problem of “fathers and sons.” Obviously, one of the factors that can, to a certain extent, weaken the impact of such changes in lifestyle on the human psyche is the level of information readiness of a person for future changes. One of the most important indicators of changes in lifestyle in the second half of our century is the development and use of new information and communication technologies in all areas of social life and activity, the level of production and consumption of information products and services by society. There is an obvious change in attitudes towards information and an expansion in the possibilities of obtaining and using information to enhance human potential and its development in many directions.

All of the above determines the emergence and need to solve a complex socially significant problem - the creation of a socio-psychological model of behavior of a member of the information society, the identification of “points” and methods of influence that will ensure normal adaptation and comfortable existence of a person in the information society, and will reduce contradictions between generations.

It seems that the most effective influence is exerted by the education system, which should accustom the child, adolescent and adult to the need for constant changes in lifestyle, to perceive, follow and preserve the national traditions and cultural heritage of their country.

Conclusions:

INFORMATION SOCIETY is one of the theoretical models used to describe a qualitatively new stage of social development, which developed countries entered with the beginning of the information and computer revolution. The technological basis of society is not industrial, but information and telecommunication technologies.

The information society is a society in which:

1. Information becomes the main economic resource, and the information sector comes out on top in terms of development rates, number of employees, share of capital investments, and share in GDP. ITT is becoming the main means of increasing production efficiency and strengthening competitiveness both in the domestic and global markets.

2. There is a developed infrastructure that ensures the creation of sufficient information resources. This is primarily the education system and science. There is a redistribution of resources in favor of science and education. In the United States, the so-called accumulated human capital is three times greater than the assets of all American corporations. Intellectual property becomes the main form of ownership. In the competition for world championship, a new factor appears - the level of development of information infrastructure and industry.

3. Information becomes a subject of mass consumption. The information society provides any individual with access to any source of information. This is guaranteed by law (military and state secrets are also determined by law) and technical capabilities. New criteria for assessing the level of development of society are emerging - the number of computers, the number of Internet connections, the number of mobile and fixed telephones, etc. The legal foundations of the information society are being developed.

4. A unified integrated information system is being formed based on technological convergence (merging telecommunications, computer-electronic, audio-visual technology). Unified national information systems are being created (in the USA - in the 1980s, in Western Europe - in the 1990s).

5. The information society is emerging as a global one. It includes:

· global “information economy”;

· unified global information space;

· global information infrastructure;

· the emerging global legislative and legal system.

In the information society, business activity flows into the information and communication environment. A virtual economy, a virtual financial system, etc. are being formed, which raises complex questions about the mechanisms of their regulation and connections with the real, “physical” economy

Self-test questions:

1. What is the “information society”

2. What is the global stage of historical development of mankind?

3. What are the main provisions of the concept of the information society

5. Five stages of the process of formation of the information society (according to A.I. Rakitov)

6. Distinctive features of the information society

7. Criteria for the transition of society to the post-industrial and information stages of its development (according to I.V. Sokolova)

8. Additional criteria for the transition of society to the information stage of development. A society is considered informational if:... (according to A.I. Rakitov)

9. Dangers of information technology development

10. The benefits that information technology gives to society

11. Principles for developing access to public information

12. What is “State Information Policy”

14. What is the strategy for Europe’s movement towards the information society

15. Characteristics and signs of the information society

16. How does the globality of the information society manifest itself?

Literature:

Democracy implemented through referendum. Referendum (from lat. referendum- what must be reported) or plebiscite - in state law, the adoption by an electoral body of decisions on constitutional, legislative or other domestic and foreign policy issues.

Information society - the concept of post-industrial society; a new historical phase in the development of civilization, in which the main products of production are information and knowledge.

The concept of the information society is a type of theory of post-industrial society, the basis of which was laid by Z. Brzezinski, E. Toffler and other Western futurologists. Thus, the information society is, first of all, a sociological and futurological concept that considers the production and use of scientific, technical and other information to be the main factor in social development.

“Post-industrial society,” argues Z. Brzezinski, is becoming a technotronic society - a society that is culturally, psychologically, socially and economically shaped by the influence of technology and electronics, especially developed in the field of computers and communications” [Cit. according to 3]. The technocratic development of our civilization influences the nature of the individual’s perception of reality; it destroys traditional ties in the family and between generations; public life, despite growing trends towards global integration, is increasingly fragmented. It is this paradox, according to Z. Brzezinski, that contributes to the collapse of the old foundations for the community of people and forms a new global vision of the world.

Considering social development as a “change of stages,” proponents of the theory of the information society associate its formation with the dominance of the “fourth” information sector of the economy, following agriculture, industry and the service economy. It is argued that capital and labor as the basis of an industrial society give way to information and knowledge in the information society. The revolutionary effect of information technology leads to the fact that in the information society classes are replaced by socially undifferentiated “information communities” (Y. Masuda).

The authors of the concept of “information (post-industrial) society” never came to a consensus on what comes first - the spiritual or material sphere. For example, K. Jaspers and E. Toffler believed that the moment of the onset of a new “wave” was the changed existence of man and his environment. M. McLuhan paid more attention to the media and considered Gutenberg's printing as his starting point. “Only in conditions of mass dissemination of the printed word do both private entrepreneurship and the democratization of society on the basis of suffrage become possible, since it is the printed word, and not the oral or even written word, that forms the initial element, and the central agent of such a social structure - the atomized, isolated human individuality.

However, with the variety of views of various authors on the course of historical development, they all note that:

• 1. History is divided into three main global stages, which can be called “agricultural”, “industrial” and “post-industrial”;
• 2. The distinction between stages is made on the basis of production relations or human interaction with nature (through tools, through machines or equipment, through information);
• 3. The transition to the next stage is carried out through a scientific and technological revolution, during which the habitat changes, which, in turn, leads to transformations in people’s consciousness;
• 4. The final historical stage, which, according to some philosophers, has already arrived, and, according to others, will come in the near future, is the “information society”, and for culture the postmodern era is coming.

Unfortunately, the authors of the concepts of the “information society” (with the possible exception of E. Toffler) did not devote enough space to consider the question of what consequences its onset will bring for the cultural life of mankind. A.I. Rakitov divided the process of formation of the information society into five stages (information revolutions):

The first is the spread of language.

The second is the emergence of writing.

The third is mass book printing.

The fourth - the information revolution - consists of the use of electrical communications (telephone, telegraph, radio and television), which immediately develops into the fifth.

The fifth stage is characterized by the use of computers, the use of databases, local and global computer networks. At this stage, technological changes accompanying information revolutions are integrated. In this regard, A.I. Rakitov emphasizes that in the near future this will have a gigantic impact on all civilizational and cultural processes on a global scale. J.-F. Lyotard believes that “as society enters the era called post-industrial, and culture enters the postmodern era, the status of knowledge changes - “knowledge is already and will be the most important, and perhaps the most significant stake in the global competition for power.”

The distinctive features of the information society are:

• · increasing the role of information and knowledge in the life of society;
• · increasing the share of information communications, products and services in the gross domestic product;
• · creation of a global information space that provides:
• o effective information interaction between people,
• o their access to global information resources and
• o meeting their needs for information products and services.

Criteria for the transition of society to the post-industrial and information stages of its development (according to I.V. Sokolova):

• 1. socio-economic (employment criteria);
• 2. technical;
• 3. space.

The socio-economic criterion assesses the percentage of the population employed in the service sector:

• · if more than 50% of the population in a society is employed in the service sector, the post-industrial phase of its development has begun;
• · if in a society more than 50% of the population is employed in the field of information and intellectual services, the society becomes informational.

According to this criterion, the United States entered the post-industrial period of its development in 1956-1960. (the state of California - “silicon or silicon valley” - crossed this milestone back in 1910), and the United States became an information society in 1974. Russia, like the world community as a whole, according to this criterion is at the industrial stage of development.

The technical criterion evaluates information agility.

The early phase of informatization of society begins when specific information weapons reach a level that corresponds to the deployment of a sufficiently reliable long-distance telephone network. The final phase corresponds to the achievement of problem-free satisfaction of any information needs of each person at any time of the day and at any point in space.

According to this criterion, Russia is in the initial phase of informatization and, according to forecasts, will reach the final phase in the 30s - 40s. XXI century, while the United States is already making the transition to the final phase of informatization.

The space criterion makes it possible to note the possibilities of real observation of humanity from space, since informatization has led to the fact that the levels of radio emission from the Sun and the Earth in certain parts of the radio range have become closer.

Additional criteria (A.I. Rakitov) for the transition of society to the information stage of its development: a society is considered informational if:

• · any individual, group of persons or organization anywhere in the country and at any time can receive, for a fee or free of charge, on the basis of automated access, any information and knowledge necessary for their life activities;
• · modern information technology is produced in society and is available to any individual, group or organization;
• · there are developed infrastructures that ensure the creation of national information resources in a volume corresponding to the constantly accelerating scientific, technological and socio-historical progress;
• · there is a process of accelerated automation and robotization of all spheres and branches of production and management;
• · radical changes in social structures occur, resulting in an expansion of the scope of information activities and services.

The information society differs from a society dominated by traditional industry and the service sector in that information, knowledge, information services, and all industries related to their production (telecommunications, computer, television) are growing at a faster pace and are a source of new jobs. That is, the information industry dominates economic development.

There is no single definition of the information industry. However, developed countries have accumulated some experience in statistical measurement of the information industry. For example, Canada has proposed a new classification under the heading “Information technology and telecommunications” (ITT), which combines telecommunications, mass broadcasting and computer services.

Regardless of the statistics, it is clear that the dynamism of technological modernization of modern society raises two main questions for society:

First. will people be able to adapt to change?

Second. Will new technologies give rise to new differentiation of society?

The most significant threat of the transition period to the information society is the division of people into those who have information, who know how to handle information technology, and those who do not have such skills. If new information technologies remain at the disposal of a small social group, the stratification of society is inevitable.

Despite the dangers of information technology:

• · expand the rights of citizens by providing instant access to a variety of information;
• · increase the ability of people to participate in political decision-making and monitor the actions of governments;
• · provide the opportunity to actively produce information, and not just consume it;
• · provide a means of protecting privacy and anonymity of personal messages and communications.

The development of information technology affects all aspects of society: the economy; politics, science, culture, education. However, the most important impact is on civil society and government systems. The potential for citizens to directly influence governments raises the question of transforming existing democratic structures. With the help of new communication technologies, it becomes possible to implement “referendum democracy” Democracy carried out through a referendum. Referemndum (from lat. referendum- what must be reported) or plebiscite - in state law, the adoption by the electoral corps of decisions on constitutional, legislative or other domestic and foreign policy issues.”

On the other hand, the penetration of information technologies into people's private lives can threaten the privacy of citizens. The price for convenience, speed of transmission and receipt of information, various information services - a person must constantly report personal data about himself to information systems - loss of anonymity.

Due to the particular sensitivity to the collection of personal information, the documents of the European Community (Building the European Information Society for Us All. First Reflections of the High Level Group of Experts. Interim Report, January 1996) offer the following recommendations:

• · collection and storage of identifiable information should be minimal;
• · the decision to open or close information should be left to the people themselves;
• · when designing information systems, it is necessary to take into account the need to protect personal information;
• · citizens must have access to the latest technologies to protect personal privacy;
• · the protection of personal information and privacy should become the central point of a policy that ensures the right to anonymity of citizens in information systems.

Intensive implementation of information technologies in government agencies makes it possible to:

• · bring them closer to citizens, improve and expand services to the population;
• · increase internal efficiency and reduce public sector costs;
• · stimulate the creation of new information equipment, products and services by the private sector through adequate public policy.

The following principles should apply regarding access to public information:

• · information should be open to everyone;
• · basic information should be free. A reasonable price should be charged if additional processing is required, bearing in mind the cost of preparing and transmitting the information, plus a small profit;
• · Continuity: information must be provided continuously, and must be of the same quality.

As a rule, the reason for failures in the implementation of information technology implementation projects both at the level of enterprises and the state is the inability to combine technological innovations with organizational ones.

4. The concept of the information society. Main features and development trends.

Information society- this is a stage in the development of modern civilization, characterized by an increasing role of information and knowledge in the life of society, an increasing share of information and communication technologies, information products and services in the gross domestic product, the creation of a global information infrastructure that ensures effective information interaction between people, their access to information and satisfying their social and personal needs for information products and services.

Distinctive features:

increasing the role of information, knowledge and information technologies in the life of society;

an increase in the number of people employed in information technology, communications and the production of information products and services, an increase in their share in the gross domestic product;

the growing informatization of society using telephony, radio, television, the Internet, as well as traditional and electronic media;

creation of a global information space that ensures: (a) effective information interaction between people, (b) their access to global information resources and (c) satisfaction of their needs for information products and services;

development of electronic democracy, information economy, electronic state, electronic government, digital markets, electronic social and economic networks;

Development trends.

First trend- this is the formation of a new historical type of civil property - intellectual property, which is at the same time the public property of the entire population of the planet.

Intellectual property, unlike material objects, by its nature is not alienated either from its creator or from the one who uses it. Consequently, this property is both individual and social, i.e., the common property of citizens.

Next trend- this is a restructuring of labor motivation (for example, in cyberspace everyone can act simultaneously as a producer of information, a publisher and a distributor).

Next, it should be noted radical change in social differentiation the information society itself, dividing it not into classes, but into weakly differentiated information communities. And this is primarily due to access to knowledge and diverse information for broad sections of the planet’s population.

Now knowledge is not the prerogative of the rich, noble, successful. The boundaries between traditional classes are gradually being blurred

Next trend- this is the broad participation of sections of the population in the processes of preparation, adoption and implementation of management decisions, as well as in control over their implementation. For example, this primarily concerns electronic voting in elections to local authorities.

In general we can conclude, which in their totality and in a generalized form are observed two interrelated trends development of the information society. The first consists of civil socialization economic structures and private property relations, in limiting government power. Socialization does not lead to the destruction of capital, but to a change in its character, giving it certain social and civilized forms. This limits and suppresses his egoistic traits. And this process in one form or another (“cooperative”, “joint-stock”) has taken its proper place in most developed countries. The second trend is individualization economic and social processes, filling them with diverse personal content (people are increasingly staying at home, working from home).

Are there internationally accepted definitions of the information society?

1. The question is posed very correctly, because in Russian literature there are many non-conceptual uses of this term, everyday or purely author’s interpretations that are not related to the established tradition of using the term in Western literature, where it was formulated.

In 1973, the famous American scientist D. Bell in his work “The Coming Post-Industrial Society. Experience of Social Forecasting" put forward the concept of the transition of Western society, characterized as "industrial society", into the post-industrial stage, called post-industrial society. Although Bell examined many of its features, which did emerge two decades later, the term itself was not deciphered. Just as the term “pre-industrial society” requires disclosure of its content (agrarian, traditional), post-industrial society requires disclosure of its essence. The prefix “post” only indicates that this is a society that comes after the industrial one, after it.

Back in 1972, the Japanese set the task of information development of their society and declared the need to make it informational. Before the advent of Bell’s concept, this was simply a characteristic of a program to increase the role of information in society. But, taken together, they formed the concept of “information society,” which defines the essence of post-industrial society as a society in which information, rather than industry, plays a decisive role. This is a society whose productivity is determined by the information sector more than by the manufacturing and service sectors. J. Nesbit called the transition to an information society one of the ten most important trends in the transformation of the West, and subsequently the world as a whole. M. Kassel in the work “Information Society. Economy, Society, Culture” examined the essence of the information revolution.

Currently, the importance of knowledge in the information sector has been highlighted, which has led to the spread of the terms “knowledge society” and “knowledge economy”. In accordance with these changes, the West, as a post-industrial society, has concentrated on the production of product models, and their material embodiment has largely moved to non-Western industrial countries, many of which are trying to master high technologies, including information and knowledge application technologies. However, they remain industrial societies. It must be clearly understood that the term “information society” is fully applicable only to Western societies.

Doctor of Philosophy, Prof., Head. Sector of Social Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences

V.G. Fedotova

2. There are many definitions of the information society, which are quite actively referred to by authors in different countries.

After the publication in 1983 of the book by I. Masuda, one of the authors of the “Plan for the Information Society”, developed in Japan in the early 70s of the 20th century, the early interpretations of the information society proposed by the Japanese became the subject of attention of the world scientific community. The invention of the term “information society” is attributed to the professor of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yu. Hayashi. The contours of the information society were outlined in reports submitted to the Japanese government in the late 60s and early 70s by organizations such as the Economic Planning Agency, the Institute for Computer Development and Use, and the Industrial Structure Council. The titles of the reports are indicative: “Japanese Information Society: Topics and Approaches” (1969), “Plan of the Information Society” (1971), “Outlines of the Policy for Promoting Informatization of Japanese Society” (1969). The information society was defined here as one where the process of computerization will give people access to reliable sources of information will free them from routine work and provide a high level of production automation. At the same time, production itself will change - its product will become more “information-intensive,” which means an increase in the share of innovation, design work and marketing in its cost; the production of an information product, rather than a material product, will be the driving force of education and development of society.

It should be noted that even earlier, in the 40s, the Australian economist A. Clark wrote about the prospect of a society of information and services, and in the 50s the American economist F. Machlup spoke about the advent of the information economy.

The Japanese version of the information society concept was developed primarily to solve the problems of Japan's economic development. This circumstance determined its, in a certain sense, limited and applied nature. However, in the 70s, the idea of ​​the information society became popular in the USA and Western European countries and acquired the features of a universalist ideology.

American sociologist D. Bell, author of the famous concept of post-industrial society, presented a variant of the convergence of ideas of post-industrialism and the information society in his 1980 book “The Social Framework of the Information Society”. Bell's expression “information society” is a new name for post-industrial society, emphasizing not its position in the sequence of stages of social development - after industrial society, but the basis for determining its social structure - information. Here, as in the book The Coming Post-Industrial Society, paramount importance is attached to the information included in the functioning of scientific knowledge and obtained through such knowledge. The information society in Bell's interpretation has all the main characteristics of a post-industrial society (service economy, the central role of theoretical knowledge, orientation towards the future and the resulting technology management, the development of new intellectual technology). However, if in the “Coming Post-Industrial Society” electronic computing technology was considered as one of the knowledge-intensive industries and as a necessary means for solving complex problems (using systems analysis and game theory), then in the “Social Framework of the Information Society” great importance is attached to the convergence of electronic computer technology and communications technology. “In the coming century,” D. Bell argues here, “the formation of a new social order based on telecommunications will be of decisive importance for economic and social life, for the methods of producing knowledge, as well as for the nature of human labor activity.”

From the late 60s of the 20th century to the present day, many interpretations of what the information society is have been proposed. With all the diversity of emphasis, the degree of attention paid to certain technological, economic or social processes, the information society is considered within the framework of basic concepts as having at least the following characteristics. First of all, this is a high level of development of computer technology, information and telecommunication technologies, and the presence of a powerful information infrastructure. Hence such an important feature of the information society as increasing opportunities for access to information for an increasingly wider range of people. Finally, almost all concepts and programs for the development of the information society are based on the fact that information and knowledge become a strategic resource of society in the information era, comparable in importance to natural, human and financial resources.

Within the framework of the ideology of the information society, already in the 70s, various directions and trends emerged, concentrating attention on certain aspects of relations existing in society regarding information and technical and technological means of its transmission, storage and processing, considering various social perspectives as possible , desirable or negative.

In the book by S. Nora and A. Mink “Computerization of Society. Report to the President of France”, the information society was characterized as a complex society, in the culture of which serious problems arise. The authors are confident that it is impossible to understand these problems in line with Bell’s post-industrial approach (it is noteworthy that the English translation of the book was published with a foreword by D. Bell). This approach, they argue, allows us to see in the future only a “tranquilized” post-industrial society, where abundance and convergence of living standards will make it possible to unite the nation around a huge culturally homogeneous middle class and overcome social contradictions. The post-industrial approach is productive when it comes to information that drives the behavior of producers and buyers, but is useless when faced with problems that go beyond the sphere of commercial activity and depend on the cultural model. The title of one of the chapters of the book by S. Nora and A. Mink is “Will a computerized society be a society of cultural conflicts?” Believing that the information society will be less clearly socially structured and more polymorphic than the industrial society, the authors predict that one of the factors of polymorphism will be the attitude of various groups to the trend of language simplification, associated, not least, with the cost-effectiveness of databases and various forms of electronic communication. -mediated communication. The information society, they predicted, will be a society of struggle over language between different groups.

The most influential sociological concepts put forward in the initial period of formation of the ideology of the information society emphasized the value of scientific, theoretical knowledge and/or reliable information, and predicted an increase in their role in society with the development of computer and telecommunication technologies. Subsequently, trends are intensifying, emphasizing the importance of non-scientific information and linking the prospects for the formation of an information society with the “loss of scientific discourse of its privileged status.” Indicative in this regard is the position of M. Poster, an American sociologist who belongs to the French intellectual tradition of structuralism and poststructuralism. From the point of view of this author, an adequate sociology of electronically mediated communications is possible only if science is considered as one of the types of discourse on an equal basis with others. Poster considers it wrong to interpret information as an economic entity and to provide a theoretical basis for the extension of commodity relations to the information sphere. The poster emphasizes that the ease of copying and disseminating information is destroying the legal system, the foundations of which were formed to protect private ownership of material things. He insists that in the era of convergence of computing and communications technology, it is impossible to adequately understand social relations without taking into account changes in the structure of communication experience. It is noteworthy that M. Poster wrote about the possibilities of information modeling as “modeling oneself” in the late 80s, when the Internet was not yet everyday life for millions of people. In the nineties and zeros, new cultural phenomena generated by the rapid development of information and communication technologies became the object of attention of many authors.

Using the opportunities provided by modern information and communication technologies for the benefit of people is the main pathos of official strategies and programs for the development of the information society adopted by governments of different countries, interstate associations, and regional authorities. The Okinawa Charter for the Global Information Society, adopted by the heads of the G8 countries in the summer of 2000, stated: “The Information Society, as we envision it, allows people to make greater use of their potential and realize their aspirations. To do this, we must ensure that IT [information and communications technology] serves the mutually reinforcing goals of achieving sustainable economic growth, enhancing social welfare, stimulating social cohesion and realizing its full potential in strengthening democracy, transparent and accountable governance of international peace and stability. Achieving these goals and addressing emerging challenges will require the development of effective national and international strategies.”

In the Declaration adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in 2003, the first section is called “Our shared vision for the information society.” It begins with these words: “We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, gathered in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and determination to build a people-centred, inclusive a development-oriented information society in which everyone can create, access, use and share information and knowledge to enable individuals, communities and peoples to realize their full potential, contributing to their sustainable development and enhancing their quality of life based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and fully observing and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

The “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation” proclaims the goal of the formation and development of the information society to be “improving the quality of life of citizens, ensuring the competitiveness of Russia, developing the economic, socio-political, cultural and spiritual spheres of society, improving the public administration system based on the use of information and telecommunications technologies".

The quantitative indicators provided for in documents of this kind characterize the technological and economic aspects of the information sphere. “Strategies for the development of the information society in the Russian Federation” provides for a number of target values ​​​​of indicators for the development of the information society, which must be achieved before 2015. In this series - the level of accessibility for the population of basic services in the field of information and telecommunication technologies (100%), the level of use broadband access lines per 100 people (15 lines by 2010 and 35 by 2015), the number of households with personal computers (at least 70% of the total number of households), the share of library collections converted into electronic form, in the total volume of public library collections (at least 50%), the share of domestic goods and services in the volume of the domestic market of information and telecommunication technologies (more than 50%); growth in the volume of investments in the use of information and telecommunication technologies in the national economy (at least 2.5 times compared to 2007). Obviously, such indicators make it possible to judge, first of all, the success in creating a modern information and telecommunications infrastructure and the corresponding level of accessibility of information and technology to the population.

One of the important indicators provided for by the Strategy is Russia’s place in international rankings of the development of the information society - among the twenty leading countries in the world by 2015. It should be emphasized that such ratings are based mainly on data characterizing the spread of technologies. Thus, the International Telecommunications Union index takes into account 11 indicators. Among them are those that characterize access to information and communication technologies (including mobile communications and landline phones), the prevalence of broadband communications, the number of Internet users and their literacy, and the number of households with computers. Data for 2002-2007 show that, despite all the efforts made in developing countries, it was not possible to reduce the digital divide between developed and lagging countries. The Information and Communication Technologies Development Index is also called the Information Society Development Index. Obviously, in such cases, the information society refers to the corresponding components of the technosphere and market segments.

Against this background, the desire to oppose the knowledge society to the information society seems quite understandable. The UNESCO report states: “The concept of the information society is based on advances in technology. The concept of knowledge societies implies broader social, ethical and political parameters." It is noteworthy that the first chapter of the report is called “From the Information Society to Knowledge Societies,” and the formation of a global information society is given the role of a means of creating “true knowledge societies.” At the same time, many of the problems that are considered in the mentioned report as characteristic of a knowledge society are quite have long been discussed in the context of the information society. The above fully applies to the problem of the “cognitive gap,” which is recognized today as one of the most important problems in the formation of knowledge societies. The concept of “cognitive gap” is directly related to such concepts as “digital divide” and “information inequality”.

In the literature one can find different interpretations of the relationship between the concept of the information society and the concepts of the knowledge society and post-industrial society. Sometimes they say that a post-industrial society replaces an industrial one (as can be seen from the name); after some time, a post-industrial society becomes an information society (i.e., an information society is a stage in the development of a post-industrial society), and the information society is followed by a knowledge society. This method of “ordering” can apparently be explained by the fact that the corresponding ideas became widely known precisely in this sequence. However, all these ideas were put forward almost simultaneously, and the social, technological and economic processes comprehended with their help are closely intertwined.

From the outside, it looks amazing the carefree attitude of people involved in such topics towards issues of conceptual consistency, terminological certainty, variability of meanings and the appropriateness of introducing new concepts, authorial priority and the commensurability of descriptions. Nevertheless, the main points of attraction of research interest, the general content in the various characteristics of the emerging way of life, and the repeated methods of correlating the present with the past and future, allowing one to make forecasts and create plans, are quite clearly visible here.

Material prepared by leading researcher Institute of Philosophy RAS I.Yu. Alekseeva based on the work of: Alekseeva I.Yu. What is a knowledge society? M.: Kogito-Center, 2009.

Masuda Y. The Information Society as Postindustrial Society. Wash.: World Future Soc., 1983

Masuda Y. The Information Society as Postindustrial Society. Wash.: World Future Soc., 1983, p. 29.

Clark C. The Conditions of Economic Progress. L., 1957

Machlup F. The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton, 1962

Bell D. The Social Framework of the Information Society. Oxford, 1980. In Russian. language: Bell D. Social framework of the information society. Abbreviation translation Yu. V. Nikulicheva // New technocratic wave in the West. Ed. P.S. Gurevich. M., 1988

Bell D. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. A Venture in Social Forcasting. N.Y., Basic Books, Inc., 1973. The Russian translation of this book, edited by V.L. Inozemtsev, was published in 1999.

Bell D. Social framework of the information society. Abbreviation translation Yu. V. Nikulicheva // New technocratic wave in the West. Ed. P.S. Gurevich. M., 1988, p. 330

Thus, in the “Concept of Moscow’s movement towards the information society” it is stated: “There is no generally accepted definition of the information society, but most experts agree that its essence is determined by several interrelated processes.” The following are noted as such processes: “information and knowledge are becoming an important resource and a truly driving force of socio-economic, technological and cultural development”; “a market for information and knowledge is being formed as a factor of production along with the markets for natural resources, labor and capital”; “the share of industries providing the creation, transmission and use of information is rapidly growing”; “a developed information infrastructure is becoming a condition that determines national and regional competitiveness no less than, for example, transport communications”; “the development and active implementation of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in all spheres of activity significantly changes the models of education, work, social life and recreation” (See: “The concept of Moscow’s movement towards an information society // Information Society. International Information and Analytical Journal. No. 3, 2001, p. 7). The “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation” indicates freedom and equality in access to information and knowledge as one of the basic principles, and as one of the main directions - ensuring a high level of accessibility to information and technologies for the population (See: Strategy for the Development of Information society in the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2008 N Pr-212 // Russian newspaper. Federal issue No. 4591 dated February 16, 2008).

See: Poster M. The Mode of Information: Poststructuralism and Social Context. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990

United Nations
UNESCO. World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003). Building the Information Society - a Global Challenge for the New Millennium: Declaration of Principles (Document WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/4-R, December 12, 2003)

Strategy for the development of the information society in the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2008 N Pr-212 // Russian newspaper. Federal issue No. 4591 dated February 16, 2008)

Towards knowledge societies. UNESCO World Report. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2005. P. 19