Rating the revolution: Silicon Valley in normative perspective |
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Authors: | Alistair S. Duff |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Arts &2. Creative Industries, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK |
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Abstract: | Silicon Valley, California – home of Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and so on – is widely regarded as the epicentre of the information revolution. However, it is not just a technical or economic phenomenon; it has also made a social revolution. The article evaluates Silicon Valley from a normative perspective, seeking to identify its real societal impact, negative as well as positive. A select review of significant literature is followed by exposition of primary data, based on in situ face-to-face interviews with Valley occupants; these range from the chief technology officer of a global brand to a homeless, unemployed Vietnam War veteran. The article organises its findings under three headings: the nature of information revolution; iCapitalism as a new technoeconomic synthesis; and the normative crisis of the information society. It concludes with a warning about ongoing attempts to clone Silicon Valley around the world. |
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Keywords: | ICTs political economy social theory surveillance/privacy Silicon Valley information society |
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