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The cultural imaginary of the internet : virtual utopias and dystopias / Majid Yar.

By:

Yar, Majid [author.]

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Palgrave pivotPublisher: Basingstoke, UK ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014Description: vii, 106 pages ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

1137436689
9781137436689

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

303.4833 23

LOC classification:

HM851 .Y37 2014

Contents:

1. Unravelling Utopias and Dystopias -- 2. The Techno-Scientific Utopias of Modernity: From Real to Virtual -- 3. Virtual Utopias and the Imaginary of the Internet -- 4. The Dystopian Worlds of Techno-Science -- 5. Virtual Dystopias and the Imaginary of the Internet -- 6. Beyond Virtual Utopias and Dystopias?

Summary: "Contemporary culture offer contradictory views of the internet and new media technologies, painting them in extremes of optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic foreboding. While some view them as a repository of hopes for democracy, freedom and self-realisation, others consider these developments as sources of alienation, dehumanisation and danger. This book explores such representations, and situates them within the traditions of utopian and dystopian thought that have shaped the Western cultural imaginary. Ranging from ancient poetry to post-humanism, and classical sociology to science fiction, it uncovers the roots of our cultural responses to the internet, which are centred upon a profoundly ambivalent reaction to technological modernity. Majid Yar argues that it is only by better understanding our society's reactions to technological innovation that we can develop a balanced and considered response to the changes and challenges that the internet brings in its wake."--Publisher's website.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	City Campus City Campus Main Collection	303.4833 YAR (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		A549826B

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Previous								Next
Previous	303.4833 WIN Being virtual : who you really are online /	303.4833 WIS Exploring technology and social space /	303.4833 WOL Abstracting reality : art, communication, and cognition in the digital age /	303.4833 YAR The cultural imaginary of the internet : virtual utopias and dystopias /	303.483301 GAL The exploit : a theory of networks /	303.483301 HAS Empires of speed : time and the acceleration of politics and society /	303.483301 ROS Organized networks : media theory, creative labour, new institutions /	Next

Includes bibliographical references (pages 80-100) and index.

"Contemporary culture offer contradictory views of the internet and new media technologies, painting them in extremes of optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic foreboding. While some view them as a repository of hopes for democracy, freedom and self-realisation, others consider these developments as sources of alienation, dehumanisation and danger. This book explores such representations, and situates them within the traditions of utopian and dystopian thought that have shaped the Western cultural imaginary. Ranging from ancient poetry to post-humanism, and classical sociology to science fiction, it uncovers the roots of our cultural responses to the internet, which are centred upon a profoundly ambivalent reaction to technological modernity. Majid Yar argues that it is only by better understanding our society's reactions to technological innovation that we can develop a balanced and considered response to the changes and challenges that the internet brings in its wake."--Publisher's website.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.

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