In the reading by Castells, Power in the Network Society, he discusses the realities of power dynamics within the network society. The
network society is made up of configurations of local, national and global
networks in a multidimensional and multifaceted space of interaction (p. 19).
Castells’ main argument is that the network society is full of constant power
struggles which result from a wide variety of social/cultural/political/economic
variations mixed in together to work within a single system of communication. This can lead to fragmentation of traditional norms of each subgroup incorporated into the globalized system.
The information age allowed for a wider spread of information but there were restrictions; there were centralized nodes which dispersed information to various other centralized locations. The network age is decentralized and completely opened to multiple connections between nodes from far and wide. This is tied to globalization and the sharing of information to and from all corners of the world with equal opportunity to be heard.
The reality of the network society and globalization has been discussed as a wider spread 'Americanization'. Castells' states that any power relation is asymmetrical (p. 11), which would support this claim that Western ideologies are overpowering other cultures.
Do you believe that globalization in the network society is synonymous to Americanization?
I believe that globalization in the network society can be debated synonymous to Americanization because American dominate ideologies are constantly being shared online. This can more clearly be seen through social networks sites such as Twitter, in many situations a hashtag created in the U.S will become popular worldwide. An alternate perspective to this debate is that Americans are more active users on social media which creates a global spread of American ideologies. Overall, I do believe that American ideologies are dominant on social media platforms however; I do not believe that the network society largely contributes to a change in local ideologies and encourages westernization in other countries. The network society is a minor aspect in the lives of people within other countries; therefore ideologies being distributed to others will not encourage a significant change within the society.
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