The European Union and the information society: Discourse, power and policy

@article{citeulike:2091046, abstract = {In this article, critical discourse analysis is utilized to scrutinize the discursive structure of an increasingly contested debate over the social, cultural and economic impact of the 'information society' within the European Union (EU). This debate has informed the development of information policy goals and affected their implementation. This analysis builds upon previous critiques of language and policy by focusing on language as a mode of social action. Four major discourses are identified: threat/ opportunity, technological determinism, market dominance and citizen vs consumer. Despite the articulation of a broad set of policy goals, it is argued that these discourses act to structure the debate in such a way that its economic parameters become privileged, at the expense of social and cultural factors. Further, it is contended that this has consequences for information policy, and the type of information society that will ultimately be achieved.}, author = {Goodwin, Ian and Spittle, Steve }, citeulike-article-id = {2091046}, journal = {New Media Society}, keywords = {digital, divide}, month = {June}, number = {2}, pages = {225--249}, posted-at = {2007-12-11 18:45:30}, priority = {2}, title = {The European Union and the information society: Discourse, power and policy}, url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/4/2/225}, volume = {4}, year = {2002} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2091046 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2091046 TI - The European Union and the information society: Discourse, power and policy JF - New Media Society VL - 4 IS - 2 SP - 225 EP - 249 N2 - In this article, critical discourse analysis is utilized to scrutinize the discursive structure of an increasingly contested debate over the social, cultural and economic impact of the 'information society' within the European Union (EU). This debate has informed the development of information policy goals and affected their implementation. This analysis builds upon previous critiques of language and policy by focusing on language as a mode of social action. Four major discourses are identified: threat/ opportunity, technological determinism, market dominance and citizen vs consumer. Despite the articulation of a broad set of policy goals, it is argued that these discourses act to structure the debate in such a way that its economic parameters become privileged, at the expense of social and cultural factors. Further, it is contended that this has consequences for information policy, and the type of information society that will ultimately be achieved. KW - digital KW - divide AU - Goodwin, Ian AU - Spittle, Steve PY - 2002/06/01/ UR - http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/4/2/225 ER -