Page 119 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

P2: GCO/GCZ
Tally: GCV
P1: GYG/GAQ
CY101-Bimber
August 13, 2002
10:56
0 521 80067 6
CY101-03
The Fourth Information Revolution
1988 and 1992 presidential races, for instance, television accounted for
24
roughly 60 percent of major candidates’ campaign budgets. In the 1990
Senate races, by comparison, incumbents spent an average of 33 percent
and challengers 40 percent of their budgets on broadcast advertising,
while House incumbents spent 20 percent and challengers 27 percent. 25
In both interest groups and some campaign organizations, therefore,
information abundance might diminish the importance of traditional
material resources. This is hardly to suggest, however, that simply be-
cause information is abundant and inexpensive, money should no longer
be a key resource in predicting outcomes, or that poorly endowed or-
ganizations could perform equally well compared with well-endowed
organizations. It is only to suggest a weakened relationship and dimin-
ished threshold effect. This expectation is illustrated schematically in the
dotted line in Figure 3.1.
Another implication of information abundance is a possibility for
change in the nature of organizational form and boundaries. In general
terms, the changing communication ecology implies that political or-
ganizations should become less rigidly structured, more malleable, and
more responsive to changes in their environments. As the flow of infor-
mation inside political organizations grows increasingly independent of
people’sofficial functions or roles, one of the foundations of Weberian
bureaucracy is weakened: the formal distinction among roles and the
segregation of information and communication as a function of those
roles. Under such conditions, informal, flexible structures can take on
substantially increased importance. Heckscher and Applegate call this
26
“the opening of formerly closed organizational boundaries.” As infor-
mation becomes less costly, contract-style relationships, temporary al-
liances, and ad hoc collaborations and partnerships become more viable
as alternatives to traditional hierarchical organizational structure.
A third implication of information abundance involves the nature
of membership. Membership in traditional political organizations has
several characteristics: a defined span, the transfer of money, and selec-
tive benefits. People join organizations typically by paying dues, which
entitle them to a specified duration of membership, typically a year. In

24
Darrell M. West, Air Wars: Television Advertising in Election Campaigns,3rded.
(Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2001).
25
Sara Fritz and Dwight Morris, Handbook of Campaign Spending: Money in the 1990
Congressional Races (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1992).
26
Charles Heckscher and Lynda M. Applegate, “Introduction” to Heckscher and
Donnellon, eds., The Post-Bureaucratic Organization,p.2.
102