by Patrice Flichy (Author)
Patrice Flichy offers a profound analysis of the social shaping and impact of the major communication technologies of the last 200 years.
From the semaphore and telegraph to contemporary information technologies, Dynamics of Modern Communication focuses on the relationship between technological and social change. Particular emphasis is put on four processes: the birth of the modern state at the end of the eighteenth century; the development of stock markets; the transformation of private life in the modern nuclear family; and the individualism of the late twentieth century.
Exploring the interaction of technology and social context - for example, in the move from public methods of communication to more private and individualized forms - Flichy exposes the gap between the original conception of a technology and its end use after the interplay of political, economic and consumer forces.
Format: Illustrated
Pages: 192
Edition: 1
Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
Published: 27 Sep 1995
ISBN 10: 0803978510
ISBN 13: 9780803978515
`A scholarly, analytical assessment which makes substantial contributions to our theoretical understanding of new communication technologies.... The editors of the Media, Culture & Society series of SAGE have done us a great service by arranging for the translation and re-publication of the volume.... The shelf life and scholarly value of Dynamics will, without doubt, far surpass that of more fashionable publications' - Communicatiewetenschap