Global Networks and Local Values A Comparative Look at Germany and the United States (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction and Context
1 Introduction and Context
Pages 15-22
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From page 15... ...
And because information depending on its content and who receives it can enhance or detract from a nation's ability to govern itself, we may reasonably expect that information technology will have a nontrivial impact on the conduct of national policy. Clearly, no easy generalizations can be made in advance about the social and political effects of most technological developments.
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From page 16... ...
Are the perceived threats to civil society, local businesses, or government-taxation authority inherent in the technology or will they disappear as societies adjust to the dynamics of a new system? To what extent can one expect that, over time, there will be technological fixes for the tensions or conflicts created by the introduction of global networks?
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From page 17... ...
In this last respect, it was not lost on either institution that developing models for collaborations of this kind is one important social/political response to the very changes being brought about by the globalizing influence of information technology. A study limited to the United States and Germany has obvious shortcomings.
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From page 18... ...
The Dresden symposium focused on the numerous ways in which global networks are affecting local institutions and values, or are likely to do so in the future. Commissioned papers addressed conceptual questions such as the meaning of values and the several ways in which values are embedded in political, social, and economic institutions as well as analytical questions concerning actual or potential impacts.
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From page 19... ...
The following descriptions should be viewed in that light: · Political/social organization. Many observers would contrast Germany and the United States by describing the former as somewhat "hierarchical" in a number of respects and the latter as rather "horizontal." Germans are more willing to delegate authority for many kinds of societal decisions, to believe in and rely on experts or on those formally charged with decisionmaking responsibility, and to expect that social and political problems can be approached using an orderly, rational, and formal process.
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From page 20... ...
The United States is a highly mobile society with little attachment to place. University students often choose schools without regard to where they have grown up, routinely moving hundreds to thousands of miles to do so.
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From page 21... ...
The more decentralized governance and market orientation structures in the United States have facilitated deep penetration of a Web culture in several ways. Competition in telecommunications has led to substantial reductions in the cost of Web connection, to flat-rate access schemes being the norm, and to the availability of many competing highbandwidth systems via telephone lines, cable systems, and satellites.
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From page 22... ...
It looks at pornography and hate speech, at privacy and freedom of information, at cultural diversity and hegemony, at the local values associated with democracy, and at electronic commerce. In separate chapters, it puts these specific issues into a general framework that addresses global networks, local values, and their reciprocal influence.
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