- First in-depth study of Manuell Castells pioneering work
- Traces Castells thought from his work on urban change in the 1970s to his recent theories of global social transformations
- Distills the central ideas in Castells work into an accessible and concise introduction for undergraduate students
- Explores Castells writings on the network society, informational capitalism and democracy in crisis
- Provides a critical analysis of Castells thought in relation to ongoing debates about globalization
Manuel Castells holds a well-deserved place at the centre of debates over the 'information age' that he helped to name. Felix Stalder offers a sustained and careful appraisal of Castells's work, both incisively critical at some points and generously acknowledging the quality of his achievement at others.
David Lyon, Queens University, Ontario
This book is a very beautiful model of how one mind engages with another: Felix Stalder has seized the essence of Manuel Castells's work and its immense relevance to our time. Daring to be positively critical, Stalder enlarges and also defines Castells's arguments. Thus the book multiplies Castells by Stalder and the result is an instant expansion of the mind of the reader.
Derrick DeKerckhove, University of Toronto
Felix Stalder, University of Applied Arts Social Sciences, Zurich, SwitzerlandManuel Castells highly-acclaimed trilogy, The Information Age, represents the most comprehensive attempt to develop a coherent social theory of the present day. From his early, groundbreaking work on urban change and social movements, to his current work on the social transformations in a globalized
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