Abstract
The term information society is being used in the field of techno-science as well as in politics, cultural studies, journalism, and public discussions; yet, a question arises: is the term pertinent from a scientific point of view or acceptable from the political and socio-cultural perspectives of all modern societies? The question is not only academically interesting but also of immediate practical concern since the conceptual accuracy and the study of its social perception is indispensable for successful, collective, and organized action. From a societal point of view, the technologies of information and telecommunications embody in an exemplary way the cultural mega-process and political mega-changes of contemporary societies. While it is more and more accepted that the essence of the new technologies is not technological, the fate of new information technologies is connected with the future of many other institutions and the summoning of multiple sources. The establishment and composition of the above-mentioned expression, leads to the hypothesis that the term information society should be used with the utmost care, provided of course that its connotation is recognized. In the case of Greek society, certain conditions and circumstances are not yet present which can render the use of the term/expression information society rather dysfunctional.
The nature of the obstacles that do not permit the use of the expression information society in the Greek case is both socio-cultural and political. On the horizon of the next century, it is urgent to determine which of these obstacles can be removed and by which mechanisms and social actors. It is equally important to determine which socio-cultural and political particularities of Greek society will permit different social actors or groups to elaborate their presence in a global world.
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Agrafiotis, D. (1997). Information society and Greek society: Socio-cultural and political incompatibilities. In: Berleur, J., Whitehouse, D. (eds) An Ethical Global Information Society. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35327-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35327-2_12
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