The once and future information society

In the late twentieth century, many social scientists and other social commentators came to characterize the world as evolving into an “information society.” Central to these claims was the notion that new social uses of information, and particularly application of scientific knowledge, are transforming social life in fundamental ways. Among the supposed transformations are the rise of intellectuals in social importance, growing productivity and prosperity stemming from increasingly knowledge-based economic activity, and replacement of political conflict by authoritative, knowledge-based decision-making. We trace these ideas to their origins in the Enlightenment doctrines of Saint Simon and Comte, show that empirical support for them has never been strong, and consider the durability of their social appeal.

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James B. Rule (Corresponding author)Email:

Yasemin BesenEmail:

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James B. Rule   is Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley. He has researched and published widely on matters relating to sociological theory and the role of information in social life. His most recent books are Theory and Progress in Social Science (Cambridge University Press, 1997), Computing in Organizations; Myth and Experience (co-authored with Debra Gimlin and Sylvia Sievers, Transaction, 2002) and Privacy in Peril (Oxford University Press, 2007). Yasemin Besen   focuses on young people in the United States in her work, which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. Her research interests include teenage labor, gender, and inequality. Her work has been published in Contexts, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, NWSAJ, and Equal Opportunities International. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is currently Assistant Professor of Sociology at Montclair State University.