Page 111 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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The Fourth Information Revolution
in group formation was far ahead of its time. His analysis suggests that
richer flows of information in society should lead to more numerous and
intense associations among citizens. Tocqueville’s hypothesis for the con-
temporary period is that information abundance should be associated
with associational richness.
Theworkof MaxWeberandofothertheoristsoforganizationprovides
insightsintotheformthatthoseassociationsmighttake.LikeTocqueville,
Weber recognized the importance of the flow of information in society
to the functioning of organizations. The administration of businesses,
he argued in Wirtschaft und Gesellshaft, rests in large measure on the
speed of operations, and speed in turn is “determined by the peculiar
nature of the modern means of communication, including, among other
5
things, the news service of the press.” In his day, Weber observed a rapid
increase in the speed by which “public announcements, as well as eco-
nomic and political facts,”flow throughout society, and he believed that
this increased speed demanded faster and better administrative reaction
that could be optimized by only bureaucratic forms of organization. 6
What Weber observed was a set of changes in the information environ-
ment, as information moved more rapidly and presented new challenges
to organizations. He believed that the success of administrative organi-
zations was in part a function of how they adapted to the current state
of information and communication. He understood the relationship to
encompass both the external communication environment and the ways
thatorganizationshandledinformationinternally.Weberwrotethat “the
degree to which the means of communication have been developed is a
condition of decisive importance for the possibility of bureaucratic ad-
7
ministration, although it is not the only decisive condition.” So it is, he
observed, in Egypt, in Persia, and in Asia, where administrative states at
the end of the nineteenth century depended on river communication, the
telegraph, the mail, and railroads for their external communication. That
is, effective administration requires that an organization have effective
means for the communication of information throughout the social or
economic system. In this, Weber echoes Tocqueville.
At the same time, effective administration for Weber requires that an
organization adapt its internal structure and procedures to manage in-
formation adequately. Within the organization, the flow of information

5
H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1958), p. 215.
6 7
Ibid., p. 215. Ibid., p. 213.
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