| This dissertation examines the relationships between the network of computer networks known as the Internet and the political and economic organization of society. The theoretical assumptions that have been made in the existing literature on the subject are considered, and found to be inadequate for explaining some of the most interesting uses of the internet that have been developed. Rejecting technological determinist and instrumentalist accounts of the politics of technology, a new theory is developed that insists on the causal primacy of the political and economic organization of society, but recognizes that different technologies can possess different social and political implications. The effect of the social order on technological systems is understood to take place at the level of configuration or architecture of the technology. This theory is then applied to the internet to demonstrate how social forces have, at various times in its history, exerted pressures and imposed limits on the development of the internet, to ensure its development in particular forms. In particular, recent conflicts over the large-scale violation of intellectual property rights using peer-to-peer file sharing networks is examined, in order to show the need for such a new theoretical approach to the relationship between the internet and contemporary capitalism. The implications of this approach are explored in order to provide some suggestions as to how different social forces might influence the future development of the internet in order to ensure that this development realize the potentials of the technology to support greater democracy in communications. |
