Page 128 - Culture Society and Economy
P. 128
Robotham-06.qxd 1/31/2005 6:24 PM Page 121
NETWORK SOCIETY THEORY
68
scholars at the London School of Economics. In the theories of Lash and
Urry and Castells, the focus is on the economy as a system of production.
But this system of production is perceived as technologically, not socially
determined. In the end, therefore, these sociological theories prove inade-
quate since they do not incorporate the economy into their analyses as
a social system of production. Most important of all, by relying on con-
cepts such as ‘modernity’, ‘risk society’, ‘economies of signs and space’
and ‘network society’, the central economic and political challenge of our
age – the concentration of power at the global and national center due to
the dominance of monopoly capital – is minimized.
121